Kaijudo: Rebellion of the Duel Masters
by EchowolfS
Summary: Months have passed since the last battle with the Choten, all of our heroes are a year older and wiser, and they will need that wisdom to live through possibly the greatest challenge they will ever face. Pasts will collide, the Present is in chaos, and the Future is uncertain. Titans will challenge the Kaiju realm and the Guard will return to order. Will anything ever be the same?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 **Allie's Pov**

 _What in the world did I get on my face?!_ I thought to myself as I scrubbed my eyelids and lips for the seventh time. It looked like I had makeup all over myself, but I washed all of my makeup off last night before I went to bed. Waking up and looking in the mirror to see what looked like mascara and eyeliner surrounding my eyes and my lips. It was a light purple color. Quite the surprise, but it didn't necessarily look bad. It was actually the best I have seen in some time, and whatever it was isn't being affected by soap and water in the least.

"Allie, you are going to be late for the bus!" I heard my dad call for me from downstairs.

I looked at the time and felt my heart stop. I had five minutes to get to the bus and I wasn't even dressed!

I guess the good thing about whatever is on my face is just great because I didn't need to put on makeup. I got dressed quickly and ran down stairs.

"Wow, Allie. You look amazing this morning. You remind me so much of your mother when I first met her. Your make up is almost exactly the same as hers that day." My dad started to get that gaze in his eyes that he gets when he thinks of my mom.

Honestly, I would rather him not mention her at all. She was the one who abandoned us all those years ago. He really needs to move on. Well, I guess it didn't help that Ray's dad came back out of the blue just as he was starting to get closer to Ray's Mom. But still. He can't be stuck on one woman forever… can he?

I shook my head and grabbed two pieces of toast, threw some bacon and eggs in between the slices, grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, and left. I needed to eat on the go if I wasn't going to be late.

 **Ray's Pov**

"No, no, no, no, NO!" I yelled as the bus disappeared around the corner. This was the third time this week I have missed the bus, and Dad will be furious if he has to drive me again. He was almost late for work last time, and I am not willing to go through that mess again and risk getting grounded. Especially because of how important today is to me. All I could do now is try my luck with the regular bus and hope I get to school before the third bell.

I ran as fast as I could to make sure I got to the bus stop in time. There was no one else at the stop today, so I was alone. I sat down on the bench and waited, but then a voice called out to me.

"Hey! Grab that paper!" I looked over to see a girl with an eye patch running after a large paper. I jumped up and grabbed it just as it was about to blow past me. I flipped it over to see a half done drawing of what looked like a sphynx. It was really well done even if it wasn't nearly finished.

The girl ran up to me and I handed her the drawing. "Here."

"Nice grab. My teacher would have killed me if I lost this thing." She was holding a large folder and carefully put the paper inside it. Now that she was closer, I was able to take a better look at her clothing. She was obviously from some kind of prep school. She wore a golden yellow shirt, a black skirt with black leggings, a black jacket, and a black tie.

I guess I looked at her ensemble for too long, because she said "I am from San Campion Prep, and before you ask, yes I have to wear this every day. Based on the fact that you don't have a uniform, I am guessing you go to a public school, right?"

"Yeah, San Campion High." I responded, slightly embarrassed for looking so long, but I couldn't bring myself to look at her face.

"You know my eye is up here, right?" She said. My face got hot.

"Sorry." I looked up and focused hard on her one blue eye. I didn't want to stare at her eyepatch.

"So, what's your name? My name is Raven, but my friends call me Ray." She stretched out her arm, offering a handshake.

"My name is Raiden, my friends also call me Ray." I shook her hand. Raven was just a little shorter than me and had either long blonde hair with black lowlights or black hair with blonde highlights that was tied back in a loose braid. She also had a slight accent that sounded Australian, but was too light for me to be sure.

As hard as I tried, I couldn't help but stare at her eye patch for a moment. It was unlike any eyepatch I have ever seen, and my dad has gotten several. It was very large, covering her eyebrow and part of her cheek, and several silver circles and a golden gear decorated the brown fabric.

"Do you like my eye patch? My dad made it for me since I didn't really like the ones that are normally sold around here." She sat down on the bench and motioned for me to sit next to her.

"Yeah, it's really cool. My dad has several eye patches as well, but nothing like that." I plopped down next to her, relieved I hadn't offended her for staring.

"So, why are you here? At this bus stop, I mean. Don't you have a school bus around here?" Raven asked.

"Yeah, it came and went about five minutes ago." I gave her a guilty smile. "But this bus has a stop near my school, so it's all good."

"Same. My brother even rides the same bus as me, but I still miss it every now and again." She scratched the back of her head and laughed.

"So, did you just move here? I haven't seen you around before." My parents bought this new house a couple months ago, but I was already well aquatinted with most of the teenagers around here.

"No, I have lived here most of my life. I was just away for a surgery and my dad wouldn't allow me to go outside what so ever until I was out of the recommended resting period." I shot her a concerned look, and she quickly put up her hands. "It was for my eye, okay? I'm all good."

I let out a little breath. I had only just met this girl, but I felt so at ease with her. It almost felt like I had known for ten years rather than just ten minutes.

We kept talking until the bus came, and then we found two empty seats in the back right next to her and continued talking until we got to my school.

"Aw man, and I was really starting to like you." Raven sighed as the bus pulled up to my stop. "I guess I'll see you around."

I checked the time on my phone and smiled. It was actually seven minutes before the first bell. "Yeah, like maybe tomorrow morning? Same time and place?" I asked.

She checked her watch and smiled as well. "I don't know, maybe I will see you then."

I jumped off the bus and walked to the school gates.

 **Gabe's Pov**

"Hey, boys? You are gonna be late if you all don't hurry up." My mom called up to my older brothers. I was already dressed and eating breakfast, but I am not sure if those two are even out of bed. After several minutes passed and the two still hadn't come down, mom went upstairs and literally dragged them down.

Sometimes, it's good to be the responsible child. Then, you get to watch the other two trouble makers get told off and smile smugly if they look at you. Of course if I do that, I am asking for trouble later on, but on days like today, it is well worth it.

Jaha told me that some masters take personal apprentices to either help them out or groom them to be a duel master when they are gone. I thought about it for a while, and decided that I might try and become Master Nadia's personal apprentice. It was a tough choice between her and Isao. Both are the masters of civilizations that I am more inclined to, but Water just seems to be more appealing to me. Also, Isao is kind of intimidating. Nadia can be as well, especially when she is annoyed, but she is also more understanding and willing to see other possibilities.

Today marks the day that I am going to try and get noticed by her. I don't want to outright ask to be her personal apprentice, I want her to notice my abilities and talents when it comes to memorization and problem solving. I especially want her to trust me when it comes to helping keep Ray and Allie out of trouble. I still remember her reprimanding me for following those two across the veil when she especially told us not to go on such a dangerous mission. She was worried about us and disappointed that I wasn't able to stop or at the very least slow them down. Maybe she will be less harsh on us for across the veil excursions if she trusted me more.

I finished my breakfast and checked the time. It was about five minutes before the bus is supposed to be here. I gathered my things and opened the front door.

"Oh, Gabe, one second." Dad called to me. I stopped and turned around.

"Boys, your cousin Wade is coming to visit this week. He is going to be staying in our guest room, and I want ALL three of you to be on your best behaviors."

"All right!" My brothers cheered in unison. Wade is the absolute best. He is funny, strong, and just generally nice to be around. He also doesn't let my brothers get away with picking on me when he is around.

"I have a friend who was downright bullied by her younger sister, but she didn't want to do anything to make it worse. After seeing the pain she was in, I promised myself I would never let something like that slide. Ever." His words echoed in my ears. He told me this after he sent my brother to their room after they threatened me when I refused to do their homework. That was almost five years ago now, before he moved away to go work at a hospital in another state.

"Oh, and Gabe." I was just about to try and head out again, but Dad stopped me. "Tell your karate teachers that you won't be able to stay as long as normal. It has been years since we last saw him, I want you all to spend as much time as possible with him."

I felt my excitement sink in my chest. I was planning to stay later and study at the library to get noticed by Master Nadia… Well, there goes that plan. I guess I am just going to have to work with what time I have.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 **Ray's Pov**

I don't even remember what happened during most of my classes today, I just keep thinking back to Raven. She was just so nice and relaxed. It took only a few minutes for us to become comfortable with each other. She was also really funny as well. We would just talk about random things and she would throw in a bad pun or a sarcastic comment. I wanted to talk to her more, but I have to go to school. I wish we went to the same school, then we could have continued talking.

"Hey, earth to Ray? Are you in there Ray?" Allie knocked on my head like you would knock on a door. "You've been out of it all day. Is the surprise really that amazing?"

She snapped me back to reality and I noticed that she, Lucy, and Gabe were all staring at me. I looked down and realized I had unconsciously began to draw Raven's eyepatch. I slowly flipped to a blank page in my sketchbook, trying not to be suspicious, but Allie knew something was up. She snatched it away and flipped back to the eyepatch.

"What's this? It is really cool." She gazed at the sketch.

"It almost looks like an eyepatch. Are you designing one for your dad?" Lucy asked.

"Kind of. I met someone this morning with an eyepatch like this and I want to show it to my dad." Half-truths aren't completely lies, right? "Anyways, I can't wait to show you my surprise! Things are defiantly gonna be a bit different around here, but different in a good way." I smiled.

I have been keeping this secret for months, given out small hints to keep them interested, and been very careful with my words so I wouldn't give it away.

The others exchanged a glance. My attempt to change the subject did not go unnoticed, but they reluctantly moved on.

"Are you sure you can't give us any more hints?" Gabe asked

"What he calls hints aren't exactly hints. I mean, come on! A plastic bag, bones from chicken wings, and a brush? It could be anythi-" Allie was cut off when Lucy let out a gasp.

"Are you serious? You got one?" She stared at me.

"Yep! It's all thanks to your job idea. My parents were more than happy to let me have one after two months there." Lucy gave me a high five. Allie seemed thoroughly annoyed that she still hadn't figured it out yet.

"You still have two class periods to figure it out. Just let those three things set in." Lucy smiled.

"Ugh. Fine." Allie sat back down and glared at me. I knew she was just frustrated though. Wait a sec. She looks different.

"Hey Allie, did you get some new make up or something?" I asked

Gabe, who had been half listening while reading something on his phone quietly put his head on the table and groaned. Lucy face palmed so hard that the smack echoed twice in the cafiteria.

"What?" I asked

Allie was already annoyed, but now she seemed angry. "You can't seriously be that oblivious."

I looked to Lucy and Gabe for help, but both decided it would be best to start studying. I was alone and helpless.

 **Allie's Pov**

After I chewed out Ray for being so completely dense, Lucy and I headed to our Biology class. After thinking that today would be Portia and Maribel free, my hopes and dreams were shattered as the two teenage tyrants walked, or more like stalked, over to our table.

"Hey Allison, I absolutely LOVE your make up. You have to tell me your secret!" Portia squeaked. She still believes we are friends, but then again, she is the type of person who needs to be told straight up or she won't really won't leave you alone, and I haven't done that.

"Yeah, I wouldn't use that lipstick though. Are you going goth or something?" Maribel added.

"I'm not really sure how I did it, to be honest with you. I just did what I always do and they just ended up like this. And no, I am not going Goth. I am just trying something new, and I kind of like this new." I replied, pulling my textbook and notebook from my bag.

Maribel caught on to my passive aggression as soon as I slammed open the cover of my text book. Lucy knew I wasn't in the best of moods after that little moment with Ray, so she busied herself with looking over the homework.

"You know, Ray has really grown up in the last year." I am gonna take a wild guess and assume Maribel heard me going off on Ray. She might be a preppy jerk, but she is not an idiot. She knew what buttons to press and in what order to really aggravate me. I really shouldn't have started something today.

"He is much stronger than the other boys our age, but not exactly buff. His dark eyes are really handsome as well…" I was getting ready to jump up and say something, but the janitor, who was quietly sweeping up some mess in the back of the room, came to my side.

"Is something wrong?" He asked.

"No, no. Just talking about boys!" Maribel said cheerily, trying to hide her annoyance in getting interrupted.

The janitor might be old, but he is sharp. He also is our bus driver and will slam on the brakes if a fight starts up, and he doesn't believe in pulling over. He just stops in the middle of the road and hauls whoever was involved to the front of the bus. He doesn't let anything slide.

"Well, class is about to start, so I suggest you get to your seats." He commanded. The two teenage witches stalked off to their seats, and then he looked to me. "Do you need to go take a breather? You seemed to be pretty worked up."

"No, I am fine. Thanks for the help, but I can handle those two. I have been handling them for years." I sighed.

"Nothing is wrong with asking for a little help. Especially if the problem keeps coming back." He gave me a small smile and left the room.

I cast a side glance at Lucy. "At least that's over with." She let out a quiet sigh as the teacher began his start of the class speech.

I smiled a bit and pulled out my notebook and homework. At least my last two classes are easy.

 **Later that day.**

"Okay, Ray. Time's up. Tell us your little secret!" I demanded.

"Let's see if you can put it together with one last hint… I have been working at an animal shelter for the past month." He grinned "Now, while you think it over. I need to go get the surprise from home. I'll meet you at our normal spot in the park."

I watched him take off down the road. I stood there for a moment and thought of the hints. A plastic bag, bones, a wire brush, and he has been working at an animal shelter… Wait a second!

I whipped around and stared at Gabe, and he did the same. I guess he got the same idea as me.

"Did he get…" I trailed off and looked to Lucy, who was trying to hide a large grin.

"Yep! Come on, if we wait much longer, He'll make it to the park before us!" Lucy slung her bag over her shoulder and started heading towards the park. Gabe and I quickly followed her. Gabe got a text during class that something was up at the temple and lessons were canceled today. Gabe really seemed upset at that. I was about to ask about it, but Lucy spoke up.

"So, Gabe, what was up with that sad face you made when you got that text about the canceled lessons?" Lucy asked. She must have been thinking the same thing as me.

"It's nothing, really. I just had some things I wanted to do today at the temple." He scratched his head. A clear signal that something else was on his mind.

"What were those somethings, to be exact?" I pressed

"I just have a lot of studying at the library I wanted to do. Plus, I still need to work on some of the spells we have been given." He was hiding something.

"Yeah? And what else?" I elbowed him hard in the side.

He looked between Lucy and me, and realized he wasn't going to fool either of us. "Fine. Master Jaha told me about how some masters will take a personal apprentices. I would like to become Master Nadia's personal apprentice so I can learn more."

"Don't you learn enough from the library?" I asked.

"Kind of, but there is so much more to learn about the Kaiju realm than there are tablets and scrolls in the library. Also… I think some private dueling lessons would do me some good."

"What do you mean by that?" Lucy asked as we rounded the corner to the park.

"I just don't duel well. Whenever we get into a fight, you and Ray always take the lead while Gargle and I hang back. Maybe, if I was better at dueling, I could help you guys out some more." Gabe lowered his head.

"What?! Gabe, you are great at dueling! You two come up with strategies and build machines that always get us out of a pinch." I turned to him. Has he always felt this way?

"But it's true, Allie. I am just not a very good duelist. Maybe if I become her personal apprentice, I will get some help and start to get better!" Gabe raised his head and looked me in the eye.

I hated that he felt this way, but there wasn't much I could do. He had made his mind up and there was little chance that I would be able to change it in the slightest.

"Hey, guys!" we all turned our heads to the sound of Ray's voice. A smile spread across my face.

He was running over to us with a leash in one hand, and attached to the other end of the leash, was a very large, white, dog.

 **Gabe's Pov**

"Oh my goodness! You're so beautiful!" Lucy laughed as the dog licked her face.

I almost thought that Ray's dog was a wolf at first. She was very large with a medium length, snow white coat. Her golden eyes sparkled with excitement as Allie and Lucy pet her.

"Her name is Okami." Ray said.

"Doesn't that mean god in Japanese?" I turned to him

"Depending on how it is spelled, it can also mean wolf. But she kind of has a godly air to her at times. Especially when she guards the door while we are away." Ray chuckled "She gets really focused and stares at the window by the door. It's actually a bit intimidating because you can only see her eyes through the blinds and it feels like she is staring into your soul."

"How long have you had her?" I asked

"Just three days, but she has settled in well already."

Okami looks over to me and whines, begging me to pet her as well. I smile and scratch under her chin. She made a silly sound and rolled over on her back, eyes screwed shut and all four paws waving in the air. Both Allie and Lucy let out an 'Aww!' and we all laughed at sweet she was being.

Suddenly, Okami's eyes shot open and she flipped over. Ears pricked and an intense focused look crossed her face. Not two seconds later, there was a loud blast. A small tremor shook the ground and Okami leapt to her feet, taking up a defensive stance in front of us and glaring towards where the sound came from.

"Come on!" Ray grabbed Okami's leash and tied it to a tree branch. "This could be creature related. Stay, Okami."

Okami sat down obediently and Ray scratched her head. The four of us pulled out our gauntlets and activated them. We rushed over to where the blast came from, and when we finally found the source, we all had to take a moment to fully comprehend the scene.

Master Jaha, Master Nadia, Master Chavez, and Master Kimora were all facing off with a dark purple/blue imp like creature with several electrical cords hanging off of its back. It cackled as the master's creatures surrounded it.

Rusalka and Black feather suddenly dive bomb the creature from above. The creature didn't even look up as its cords began to discharge electricity. The creature then jumped up. Rusalka tried to turn away, but the creature was faster. It bit down hard on the trench hunter's neck and banished her instantly. Its cords flicked around and one stretched out and lightly brushed Blackfeather. A powerful bolt of electricity sprang out from the cord and banished the specter as well.

" _Tatsurion, the Unchained!"_ Ray summoned Bob, and the rest of us followed suit.

" _Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow!"_

" _Reef Prince Glu-Urgle!"_

" _Broadsword Butterfly!"_

We ran up to the masters, who all looked surprised to see us.

"Hey, Get out of here! You aren't prepared for a creature like this!" Master Chavez yelled to us.

Gillaflame and Shouter both were circling the creature, not taking their eyes off of it for a moment.

Gargle squealed and ran up to me, jumping into my backpack. "Major Error, G-abriel! Titan power level is too high! Defeat imminent!"

"Titan? That little thing is a Titan?" Lucy asked

"Size doesn't matter, it's their strength that dictates whether a creature is worthy of the title Titan." Jaha said. "Nadia, is the ring ready?"

"Yes, but I need a distraction. If it sees the ring, it could kill us all before I am able to use it!" the water master replied.

"One distraction coming up!" Ray tried to jump on Bob's back, but Bob moved away, causing Ray to fall to the ground.

"Not this time. Titans are much too dangerous. Just stay back and let me handle this." Bob roared and charged at the creature. Allie commanded Squeaky to follow Bob and Lucy had her creature fly up above the Titan.

"Gargle, come on!" I tried to pull my partner out of my backpack "We need to help!

"Error 404. File Not Found!" Gargle screeched. He was terrified.

I looked back to the fight to see that we were losing badly. Broadsword butterfly and Squeaky have already been banished, only Bob, Shouter, and Gillaflame were the last creatures standing. I wanted to help, but what could I do?

Bob charged the creature one last time, and just as it banished the other creatures, the creature whipped around and slung its cords at Bob, banishing him quickly. How can such a small creature be so strong?

"No!" Ray yelled.

Suddenly, the Titan turned to Ray. It smiled deviously, and pounced on him like a cat. Ray tried to bring up his shield to block the creature, but it was too fast. It laughed hysterically as Ray struggled to free himself from the Titan's grasp. Its cords rose and struck out as Gillaflame and Shouter both tried to stop the Titan. Both were banished.

"Ray!" All of us screamed as the Titan raised one of its clawed hands.

A white blur smashed into the Titan's side, knocking it off of Ray. It was Okami.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 **Ray's Pov**

"OKAMI!" A scream ripped through my throat as my sweet dog turned completely savage. I flashed back to when I first met her.

 _Flashback_

"Here are our trouble makers." Bonnie, a senior worker at the animal shelter unlocked a heavy door and pushed it open. "If this shelter wasn't no kill, all of these dogs would be dead because of how aggressive they are. Most were used in dogfights or have such bad anxiety that they are unadoptable. We have several behaviorist working with them, but only a few have actually improved."

I looked around the room and took in everything. There were so many kennels, each containing a dog that was either barking madly or digging at the bottom of the door, trying to escape. My eyes landed on one in particular. A large white dog that resembled a wolf was snarling at me. After a moment, I walked forwards without thinking.

"Hey Ray! What are you doing?" Bonnie put a hand on my shoulder to try and stop me, but I didn't really notice.

I knelt down in front of the clear door to the white dog's cage and stuck a finger through one of the tiny holes.

Bonnie surged forwards to try and save me from losing a finger, but to her surprise, the dog simply licked my fingers. I chuckled as she pressed her entire face against the door so I could scratch her head.

 _End Flashback_

Bonnie was amazed that she didn't try to maul me. Apparently, she was found wandering the streets after her owner passed away from natural causes. Everyone assumed she was a guard dog and kind of went mad with grief because refused to let anyone else near her. It's why I wasn't surprised that she would sit and guard the front door while we were away, but this? This was insane. She is going to die if I don't do something!

I guess logic isn't somethings dogs have. Okami squared her shoulders and peeled her lips back, baring her long, ivory white teeth. Her golden eyes were blazing with anger and I could see her intent to kill this creature.

The Titan cackled and lunged at Okami, and Okami surprised us all. She jumped as well, but instead of meeting the titan headfirst, she ducked below it and rolled out of the way of the electrical cords. The titan landed on the ground and turned to face Okami, but she was one step ahead of it. Okami slammed into the titan and bit down hard onto one of the cords. She tossed her head around and easily picked up the titan, throwing it several meters away.

"Nadia, NOW!" Jaha yelled.

Nadia pulled a ring attached to a silver chain from her pocket. The chain disconnected from the ring, one end wrapped around her left arm and the other still connected to the golden band. She threw the ring at the ground, spinning it on its side. The ring took off like a rocket. It spun around the creature and expanded to nearly five times its original size. It circled the Titan, who was still struggling to get up after Okami knocked the wind out of it, and shot out chains of pure mana. Some of the mana attached to the titan while the rest coiled around the silver chain and snaked back over to Nadia. She pulled the chains taunt, causing the ring to come between her and the creature. A crack in space itself formed at the center of the ring and grew till it touched the golden band.

We watched in wonder as Nadia began to pull the Titan into the portal. The titan recognized what was going on and tried to escape, but it couldn't break the mana bindings. That didn't mean it was going to give up though. It pulled the chains and while the water master was not weak, she wasn't as strong as a Kaiju. Slowly, she was being pulled forwards, towards the ring.

"Nadi!" Hector ran to her side, but there was nothing he could do. Mana surrounded Nadia and crackled with intense energy.

We couldn't help, but Okami was still rearing to go. She ran to the titan and snapped at it, catching it off guard and causing it to slip a bit. Nadia took the opportunity and pulled the Titan closer to the ring. Unfortunately, the titan quickly recovered and pulled back harder.

Okami was snarling like mad and was growing angrier by the minute. She ran back and charged the Titan. The titan was ready for her this time. It struck out at Okami just as she was about to collide with it. Its claws raked down her face and she screeched in pain.

Too bad the titan didn't seem to think its attack through completely. Okami still barreled into it, knocking it off of its feet completely, giving Nadia the opening she needed to pull the titan right through the ring and into the breach.

Nadia fell to her knees, gasping for breath, and Hector knelt down beside her. It must have been tiring to play tug of war with a titan. The chains slowly disappeared and the ring rolled back to her and returned to its original size, closing the breach in the veil.

I ran to Okami who was pawing at her head where the creature injured her. I expected the top of her head to be a bloody mess, but to my surprise, it was already starting to heal. Master Kimora bent down to check on her as well, and he seemed to be just as shocked as me.

"Okay… What just happened?" Lucy asked.

 **Allie's Pov**

All of us returned to the temple quickly after that mess. Master Kimora asked Ray to bring Okami along to try and find out what causes her to heal so quickly. Nadia and Kimora took Okami to her lab to test something with her as the rest of us waited in the war room.

"Okay, so what in the world was all that about?! Allie asked.

"A titan breached the veil and it wasn't cooperating." Jaha said simply.

"Maybe the better question is what is a titan, why was that creature so strong, and what in the world is that ring of yours made of?!" Gabe was trying his best to stay calm, but he was obviously shaken. Gargle still refuses to leave Gabe's backpack, and is shaking so hard that the entire bag is quivering.

"Titans are creatures who are stronger than most." Chavez began. "Before the monarchs were trapped on this side of the veil, titans could only be named if they could hold out in a fight with one of the civilization rulers. After the veil was created, titans were named only by other titans. They are known for their superior strength in one form or another. One could have super strength, or reach supersonic speeds. It depends on the titan, but none are to be taken lightly."

"So, that little guy…" Lucy began

"The titan you just faced was called, Dilpon the Virus. A water darkness hybrid who is notorious for hacking and ruining cyberlord technology. He nearly took over the water realm years ago and was imprisoned for it, but he has since escaped. It will take some time for him to be captured again, so we must all be on the lookout for his mischief." Master Isao said.

All but one of Gabe's questions were explained. We were waiting for Nadia to come back with the test results for Okami, but Jaha decided to put our curiosity to rest.

"That was a titan ring. It is made of pure mana and allows her to either summon a titan or pull one back through the veil."

"Wait a second… She had access to some super powered creature and never summoned it while fighting the Choten?!" I couldn't believe it. A titan could have gotten us out of some really bad scrapes while fighting that man, and she never used it? Really?

"There is one thing that all titans share. They do not hold human lives in any regard. The titan who gifted this ring to Nadia was, to put it lightly, a monster who saw an opportunity. The first time she summoned him, he killed eighteen people and put another twenty into comas. You cannot control a titan." The room was thrown into an awkward silence.

"Well, I have found something very interesting." Kimora's happy voice broke through the silence like a hammer to glass.

"Hey, girl!" Ray called to Okami, who was trotting happily next to Kimora. She dashed over to him and knocked him down, taking the chance to cover him with big, slobbery kisses.

"It appears that Okami is a hybrid." He said. All of us looked at him, the masters with concern and us teens with confusion. "A dog creature hybrid to be exact."

"What? You're a hybrid?" Ray held Okami's face in her hands and she let out a happy woof.

"I believe her creature side might be that of a spirit wolf." Nadia held up a nature tablet and gave it to Jaha. "She is obviously more dog than creature though."

"Hmm." Jaha examined the tablet closely and a thought crossed my mind.

 _Were the masters going to send Okami through the veil for being part creature?_ I looked over to Ray, Gabe, and Lucy, and the looks on their faces told me they shared my concern.

"I will take good care of her. It seems like she has been living on this side of the veil for a while, so I don't think she will cause any trouble." Ray began, his voice cracked.

"I don't believe she knows how to cause trouble." Kimora said "She is pretty young for a spirit wolf. I would assume she was born on this side of the veil and hasn't had any reason to call upon her spirit wolf blood."

I watched a large smile cross Ray's face as Nadia nodded her head in agreement. "There would be no reason to take her across the veil. She is a runt compared to real spirit wolves and would without a doubt die within a week or so." Master Chavez agreed with her and Jaha eventually nodded her head as well.

Isao, on the other hand, was not so pleased. "That 'dog' is a dangerous creature. Who knows what it could do?"

"Uncle Isao, she won't do anything. Look at her." Ray turned Okami's face to Isao. She had a big, doggy smile on her face and her eyes were closed in content as Ray scratched her cheeks. I would say that she wouldn't hurt a fly, but that was already proven to be wrong.

Isao sighed and held up his hands in surrender. "Fine, but if she turns, I will personally throw her through the veil."

"Now, to the elephant in the room…" Jaha began. "How did that titan escape its imprisonment?"

Suddenly, Gargle jumped out of Gabe's backpack "Water civilization in pure chaos! Rebel creatures attack capitol and cause major disturbance!"

"What rebel creatures?" Chavez asked

"Fellow water creatures and water hybrids. Think cyber lords are unfair and want illogical changes." Gargle explained in his usual choppy voice.

"But aren't water creatures basically governed by logic?" I asked

"Yes, but not all creatures agree with the cyberlords logical ways of thinking." Nadia began. "There are many records of small uprisings trying to take down the council of Logos. All but one failed, and even the one that succeeded was eventually broken up by internal squabbles."

"Not this one. More organized than all others. Data suggests they are being led by a titan." Gragle squeaked.

"A titan? Do you know which one?" Jaha asked, but Gargle shook his head. A look was shared between the masters.

"We may need to investigate this event… in case of more butterfly effects regarding the water in San Campion." Jaha said after a moment.

 **Gabe's POV**

I wish I could have stuck around to help plan the next course of action regarding the water rebels, but I would be grounded for a month if I came home late the first day Wade was back.

"I'm home!" I called as I opened the door.

"Gabe, there you are!" I looked over to the living room and saw Wade smiling at me. Wade is a monster of a man. Over six feet tall and with the muscles of a bodybuilder, he towers over others and could lift just about anything.

"Hey Wade, how are you." I walked over and hugged him tightly.

"Pretty good little man, how are you?" He responded.

"Good. It's great to see you again." I sat down next to him on the couch.

"It's great to see you too. And now that we're all here… I've got some amazing news." He smiled.

"Oh really?" Dad said. "And what would this amazing news happen to be?"

"I am moving back to San Campion." He grinned.

My brothers and I cheered. Wade was going to stay? This is great! "That's awesome! Do you know where you are going to live?" My mom asked.

"Yeah. For now, an apartment near the hospital I am going to be working at. I am hoping to get a house near some old friends." He smiled, but his eyes betrayed him. Something was wrong.

Later that night

We were all getting ready to go to sleep, but I heard someone talking in the hall. It was Wade and my mom.

"So, how are you doing… Since you two broke up?" Mom asked him.

"Not good, but better than when I was with her." Wade chuckled.

"So, are you gonna try and get back into contact with some of your friends?"

"Yeah." He said simply. Silence enveloped the hall.

"Do you know if they will forgive you?" Mom said quietly.

"No, but my friends are good people. If I prove to them that I am truly sorry, I am sure they will forgive. Will we ever be as close as we were before, I don't think so, but I have to try to make it up to them… Especially to Nad." Wade's voice cracked. "I just hope she will at least understand that I am sorry."

"I am sure she will." Mom put a hand on his shoulder.

"I don't know. We are almost the same person, Denise, neither of us forgive easily."

"Well, there is one thing I can guarantee one thing for you. You will get through this. You are a new man, and whether they see that is up to them. You have your entire life ahead of you." Mom pulled him into an embrace and he rested his head on her shoulder.

What did he do to upset his friends? I remember he was always out with his friends when we were younger. Often choosing to spend holidays with them rather than with us. It's why his visits were so special to my brothers and me. He was never around, but at least he is here now, and hopefully things will work out with his friends.

For now, though, I need to find a way to help out at the temple with the water rebellion. Dad said since he was going to move here, I didn't need to come home early, meaning I could spend more time at the temple. I hope things are alright in the Water Realm.

 **No one's POV**

The titan hissed with pleasure at this new set of information. _So that virus is back on this side of the veil? It will make quite the impression on the water realm if we captured him again._

"What could you be planning, hmm?" A voice entered the titan's Keep, making the fins on her back rise with surprise. "It must be something good if you did not sense my arrival."

The titan locked eyes with her partner, a fellow water titan. _"If all goes well, we might just gain more allies from this."_

"What do you mean?" The creature asked

" _That virus has been found, and if we capture him…"_

"Then others will see our strength and might listen to our cause." Her partner smiled smiled. "This is exactly why you are the leader of this rebellion."

The titan smiled back, but that smile turned to a scowl as soon as the creature left the room. This praise was unlike her vein partner. Something was happening, but she didn't know what.

She couldn't dwell on this for long though. Her forces were about to launch another attack on the capitol and she needed to be there to lead them. The titan stood and stretched. There was no way she would be unsettled by anything now… Not when the real rebellion was about to begin.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 **Ray's POV**

I made sure to wake up earlier than usual to head to the bus stop before Raven got there. I was excited to talk to her again and wanted to show off some of my drawings. I saw one of hers yesterday, so it was only fair, right?

"Wow, Ray. You are ready to go already?" My mom said, shocked I was fully up and dressed.

"Yeah. I decided to get up early today." I said, sitting down at the table as my mom handed me a plate of eggs and bacon.

"And what brought that decision about?" Mom asked?

"I met someone yesterday at the bus stop, but we don't go to the same school so I want to get there early to talk to her more." I said absent mindedly.

"Her? You met a girl?" Mom pressed, a sly smile crossed her face.

"Yeah. Her name is Raven. She is pretty cool, and a really good drawer as well. I want to show her some of my drawings this morning." I noticed the change in Mom's attitude right away. I just hope I'm not blushing or something. Raven is just a nice person, I am not interested in her in THAT way.

I quickly finished my breakfast, leaving one slice of bacon behind for Okami, who was waiting patiently for her share.

"Okami, catch!" I tossed the strip of bacon up into the air and she jumped up to catch it. She munched on it nosily, making a funny 'omnomnom' sound as she chewed. I smiled and scratched her ears.

"She is such a silly girl." Mom said. Okami immediately recognized she was being praised and started wagging her long tail. "I am thinking about taking her on my morning runs. That way I don't have to walk her after I finish running."

"Sounds good. She needs some better exercise than a walk around the neighborhood." Dad said.

That was a mistake. Okami has this weird thing about people leaving the house. Dad was half way through the front door when he spoke. Okami whipped around and started crying. She bolted for my dad, who quickly exited and slammed the door behind him.

Poor Okami started barking and pacing in front of the door. She gets so worked up when any of us leave. Her howls of sadness because of my dad's absence were heartbreaking. I checked the time and realized she was about to go through the same trauma two more times.

Okami ran over to me and then back to the door, crying the entire time. "Okami…" I called to her. She ran to me again and placed her head on my lap. I hugged her and kissed the top of her head. "It's okay. He'll be back later today." I nod my head, signaling to mom that it was time. She grabbed her bag and quietly slipped out of the house.

This was our new routine. Dad leaves, I comfort the heartbroken Okami as mom leaves, and then I take her into Grandpa's room and bolt out the front door as fast as I can. It isn't fun breaking her heart three times in a row, but we have to. I led her to the back room and let Grandpa take over the consoling of the poor dog. I cracked the door behind me and ran to the front door, grabbing my backpack and my sketchbook on the way out.

Just as I closed the door behind me, I heard the feint click of claws on tile and the howls of a mourning Okami. I smiled sadly at how devastated she was. At least she is always ecstatic when we get back.

I walked to the bus stop and noticed that Raven was already there, focused intently on a notebook in her lap. I called out to her and she looked up. She smiled and waved at me.

"Hey, Raven. What are you doing?" I asked as I sat down next to her on the bench.

"Just a little sketch." She showed me an incomplete drawing of a wolf with wings and antlers.

"That looks amazing! It looks so realistic." I took the sketchbook and lightly touched the drawing. She hadn't erased any of her sketch lines, so I could see exactly how she did it.

"Thanks, her name is Vangra. I just kinda thought her up." She blushed lightly.

"I saw your Sphynx yesterday, so I wanted to show you some of my drawings. Maybe you could critique them a bit, since you are so good." I sheepishly handed her my sketch book.

I watched her closely as she flipped through the pages, telling me which ones she liked and which ones she thought could be better. She looked at some in surprise, saying she felt like she saw some of my drawings before. All of the ones she said that about where drawings of creatures. I wanted to ask if she knew what Kaijudo was, but I didn't want her to press me about what that was if she didn't know.

We talked and talked until the bus came, and continued talking on the way to school.

"Hey, Ray?" Raven asked.

"Yeah?" I answered.

"Can I give you my number?" She asked. "It sucks that we have only spoken at a bus stop, so maybe we can talk another time?"

"Yeah, here. I'll give you my number as well." I gave her my phone and she gave me hers. We typed in each other's numbers and handed back the phones.

"So, I'll see you again tomorrow?" I asked as we pulled up to my stop.

"Same time, same place." She answered. I didn't feel so bad leaving this time. Having her phone number meant we could talk more later.

It was about two more hours until school got out when an announcement came on over the speakers.

"Attention Students and Faculty, school is to be let out early today due to flooding near the shore. There is nothing to be concerned about, but we would like to start sending students home incase roads flood over as well. Please, in a calm and orderly fashion, go and pack your bags and return to your class. You will be dismissed by bus when they arrive."

Cheers could be heard throughout the school. Everyone ran out of the class to pack their bags, but Gabe, Allie, Lucy, and I shared a look. _Flooding during a water rebellion. Definitely some kind of butterfly effect._

We did as the announcement told and gathered our things to wait for the bus. The four of us gathered in a corner of the classroom.

"Anyone else thinking what I'm thinking?" Allie asked as she placed her bag on a desk.

"Without a doubt. This must be because of some kind of conflict across the veil. This one must be pretty bad though, since there wasn't any flooding during previous attacks." Gabe said.

I pulled out my phone and texted mom, informing her that school was out early and we were going to head to the temple. Suddenly, a thought hit me. _Isn't San Campion Prep close to the shore?_ I started to worry a bit, so I texted Raven.

[Hey, Raven? Are you guys getting out early too?] I asked.

She didn't immediately text back, leading me to believe they still were in class, but after a minute, I got a response.

[Kind of. The roads outside of the school are all flooded, and the teachers won't let us leave. Everything's fine though, we are just hanging around on the upper levels of the school. My friends and I even found a way onto the roof!] She sent.

[That sucks. How tall is your school?]

[Three levels. The roof is pretty cool though. Great view of the ocean. Has the flooding reached you?]

[No. We are waiting on the busses to take us home.]

[Lucky. Oh crap, the teachers found us. Gotta go!]

I chuckled at that last one, catching the attention of my friends.

 **Allie's Pov**

"Who are you texting?" Lucy asked Ray, who had just laughed at something on his phone.

"A friend I met at the bus stop. She goes to the Prep school near the shore and I wanted to see if everything was okay." Ray answered. "Apparently, her and her friends found a way onto the roof and just got caught."

"Oh really? What's your new friend's name?" Gabe asked.

"Her name is Raven, Ray for short." Ray smiled.

"Yeah, don't call her Ray. That's confusing." Lucy grabbed his phone. "So, what's she like?"

"She is our age, just a bit shorter than me. Very calm and funny. She is an amazing artist as well." Ray said. I felt my stomach twist.

"So, you're moving from Alakshmi to a girl your age now?" I tried to joke, but it came off more aggressive than I meant.

"What?! No- no, I don't like her that way…" Ray trailed off. "There's just something about her. Something that is different than other people."

He stared off into the distance for a moment. I was about to say something, but the speakers went off. They called for kids who rode the bus that ran by the dojo. We got up and left the room.

"Were we ever going to find out about Raven?" Lucy smirked, elbowing Ray.

"Well, yeah. I just wanted to get to know her a bit before I introduced you guys." His cheeks flushed as he scratched the back of his head. I didn't like that.

When we got on the bus, I decided to try and learn a bit more about Raven. "So… what does she look like?"

Ray gave me a surprised look. "Well… She has a blue eye- she only has one eye. Blonde hair with black lowlights or the reverse, you can't really tell and I haven't asked. She wears a school uniform." His description made me remember something.

"Wait a sec… The eye patch you drew the other day… it was hers wasn't it?" I asked.

"Yeah. It's pretty cool. She said her dad made it for her." Ray looked out of the bus windows. "I would like to ask if he could teach me to make a patch for my dad, but I only met her yesterday."

"That would be nice." I don't know why, but I couldn't act happy. An awkward silence filled the back of the bus as we rode the rest of the way in silence.

We entered the temple and immediately looked for the masters. We found them discussing a course of action in the war room.

"There is nothing we can do for the water realm. We should just focus on damage control over here in case things get worse." Isao argued.

"If anything can be done to help, we need to help. If the rebels succeed, there will be more disasters to come." Nadia argued.

"I agree with Master Nadia, if the council is taken down, Water will be in shambles. We need to keep that from happening." Jaha said.

"Hey, you guys are talking about the butterfly effects right?" Lucy said. "Is there any way we can help?"

The masters turned to us in surprise. "Let me guess, you were let out early because of flooding?" Master Chavez asked.

"Yeah, and we are ready to help out." Ray said.

"Good. There is no more time to argue when both of you are right. Isao, Kimora, and Chavez are to stay and watch out for any other disasters. Nadia, and I will go to Water." Jaha said.

"We will come with you, Masters." Gabe said to Nadia. She didn't look happy, but she knew she couldn't stop us.

"Fine." Nadia sighed.

"Hey, Lucy." Ray began. Lucy looked to him and all of us knew what he was going to say. "Do you mind staying behind for this? I am sure you can greatly help out with damage control."

"But- I can help! I can help you guys out over there…" Lucy trailed off, failing to think of reasons as to why she should go. She looked to Jaha and Nadia for help.

"I think she could come." Nadia surprised us all. We all whipped around to stare at her. "Then there will be two people to balance out Ray and Allie's impulsiveness."

Ray and I immediately blushed and looked down. Gabe only laughed and high fived Lucy, who let out a cheer. Jaha shot Nadia a look.

" _Aqua Chaser Rusalka!"_

" _Tatsurion the Unchained!"_

" _Scaradorable of Gloom Hollow!"_

" _Reef Prince Glu-urgle!"_

All of us except Lucy and Jaha summoned our creatures. Gargle gave us all a water suit.

"Wow. This feels… weird." Lucy grimaced.

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." I said, remembering my first time putting on one of these things.

Gabe banished Gargle and we were pulled into the Water realm.

When we materialized, we took a moment to get our bearings. All of us gasped in unison at the chaos we were witnessing. Large armored fish were battling guards, florigill mantas screeched as they mind blasted just about anything that moved, and several creatures I had never even heard of before were racing across the battle field. Everything was in complete chaos.

"Oh my…" Jaha gasped.

A hissing sound grew louder and louder from our right. We turned to see a missile coming straight for us. Bob jumped into action, blasting several smaller missiles at the larger one and jumping in front of us. The missile blew up.

"Nice one, Bob!" Ray said.

"We need to get out of here. There is no cover and we seem to be in the thick of the fight." Bob snarled. No one argued as we swam down towards the water capitol.

Once we reached the main building, we immediately headed for the council chambers. Finbarr should be there with the others, right?

 **Gabe's Pov**

We swam into the chambers to find the three council heads locked in a heated debate. All three were talking at the same time, trying to explain different plans and strategies. Gargle swam up and caught their attention.

"Duel Master Jaha, Master Lobachevsky, what are you doing here?" Finbarr asked.

"Once again, the effects of the creature realm are spilling onto our side of the Veil. We have come to see if we can help end this conflict before things get worse." Nadia replied.

"I fear there is nothing you can do. The rebels are not numerous, but they are fast and strong. We have identified who we believe to be the rebellion leader." Finbarr projected an image of some kind of water horse. "Irta, Queen of the Kelpies."

Irta had bright green scales and gorgeous blue fins. Instead of hind legs, an elegant tail powered her through the water. Several coral necklaces hung from the Kelpie's neck and small pearls seemed to be wedged between her scales. Her eyes were a pearly white that changed color depending on how the light hit them. She was stunning, even by creature standards.

"Irta is a powerful creature with little influence here. Only her Kelpies dare to follow her harsh and illogical rule. There must be another." Milporo muttered.

"I agree, there is no way the armor fish would follow her alone." Finbarr pulled up another image of several fish that were decked out in full armor.

"Woah, how can those guys even swim with that bulky armor?" Allie asked.

"They don't wear armor, Allie. Those are their scales. They just developed like that to defend themselves. It's very lightweight." I explained.

"So, how can we help take Irta down?" Ray asked.

"… it is too late." Finbarr sighed.

"What?! There's no way you can give up to a seahorse!" Allie cried

"Come on, there has to be some way to tell what her next move will be?" I looked between the cyberlords, but they were focused on something behind us.

"Maybe you could tell if you looked at your opponent?" A cool voice hissed. All of us whipped around to see the Kelpie queen and several armor fish at her side.

 **No one's POV**

 _It took her long enough to reach the council…_ The titan thought as she stood from her hiding place among the rocks outside of the capitol. She had hidden there for the duration of the battle to hide her partner's presence from the council, but she did not expect it to take so long. Her joints were stiff from crouching down among the reeds and hunger gnawed at her belly. _I should have taken Irta's offer of food before the attack. Oh well, I can eat later._

The titan launched herself up with one powerful swish of her long tail and cast her mind out, examining the battle. So far, no deaths on either side, which was an absolute miracle. She smiled at this fact, but then something entered her mind. The presence of an old friend who should not be where she was.

" _No, what is she doing here?!"_ The titan gasped. Irta was close to this person, and in knowing the temperamental old fish, her friend will be in danger. She could sense several others similar to her friend, and knew something bad was about to happen.

 _By the spirits, please let me make it in time!_ She thought to herself.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 **Gabe's POV**

The Kelpie chuckled at the shocked expressions on our faces. "Well, well, well. And what do we have here? Relying on petty humans to do your work?" Irta hissed.

"What do you want, Queen Irta?" Finbarr asked.

"You know what we want. The council of Logos needs to be disbanded or at the very least expanded to include creatures with actual emotion." Irta flicked her head, causing her green mane to flutter lightly in the water.

"Emotion is not what is needed to rule a civilization. Logic will always lead to the right answers." Finbarr was getting annoyed.

"Both is needed, child, but emotion will always win to logic. It is what is keeping your subjects safe from the battle."

"What do you mean? Milporo asked.

"How many civilian casualties have there been in this fight?" Irta sneered.

"None have been reported." Finbarr took a moment to answer, probably checking to see if her claim was true.

"No thanks to your soldiers! You may have ordered an evacuation, but war will not give you the luxury of time. My kelpies have successfully kept your subjects safe. If I simply ran on logic, like you blue spits, who knows how many innocent creatures would have been injured?" Did Irta really do that? Their army was already small enough without sending troops to protect civillans.

"Queen Irta," I began. She shot me a glare, but I continued. "Why do you want the council to be disbanded?"

"Because under their rule, logic and knowledge now rules as the value system. Creatures that aren't as intelligent as themselves are lesser and therefore not as important to society." Irta spat.

"And how is that true?" Jaha asked. Irta looked at the darkness master and laughed.

"You know nothing of the water civilization, do you? Master of Water, do you know what I, the queen of the _kelpies_ , am referring to?" Irta's voice echoed through the quiet room.

Nadia seemed startled for a moment, and then her face grew cold. "I know."

"It seems that the council has forgotten. Could you possibly educate your companions and the little bubble heads?" I couldn't help but crack a smile at her words.

"Bubble heads? What kind of insult is that?" Allie snapped.

"Bubble head is the water equivalent of air head, but much worse." Bob leaned down and whispered. "Even on the battle field, no fire soldier dares to utter those words."

"Oh." Allie then found it wise to move back behind Squeaky, for fear of Irta's wrath. She might be a gorgeous kelpie, but she was also twice our size and made of solid muscle.

"The council thought it would be better if the kelpies be moved to the abysses to feed off of the deep kelp forests that were growing out of control. Something went wrong and the kelpies left the abysses and began to feed on food meant to be sent around the water civilization to feed thousands of creatures who couldn't hunt or make their own food. The council banished the kelpies to the far reaches of the water civilization." Nadia said.

"So? The kelpies did something wrong and were punished. There's nothing wrong with some swift justice." Allie shrugged.

"There is when the justice is so swift that I cannot explain the actions of my people." With a flick of her tail, Irta now hovered dangerously close to Allie. "The kelp that was to be our food supply in the abyss was bad. Not just in the sense of taste, but bad as in if a kelpie ate too much of it… they died. I tried to get into contact with the council, but since we were not as valuable as other creatures, my pleas went unheard. I had to make a choice. Save my people, or let them die. I chose to save them. I led them out of the abyss and to the closest source of food. We were starving and sick. I was at fault for all of it, yet my people suffered the consequences of my actions."

The kelpie queen grew silent for a moment. You could practically see the painful memories in her eyes. Then, she turned back to the council. "If the council was disbanded, I would make sure this would never, _ever_ happen again."

"But the water civilization will be in chaos!" Nadia moved between Allie and Irta. "Why start a war over something that you can discuss?"

"Because things aren't that simple." A soft voice entered the room.

We turned to see a strange yet beautiful creature swim to Irta's side. She reminded me of a wolf, but her body was sleek and had no fur. Her tail was long and elegant. and fins sprouted on the sides of her face, back of her legs, and all the way down her back. Her eyes were ruby red and a large red gem was imbedded in her forehead.

"What kind of creature is that?" I asked.

"Ruby Eye, Memory Keeper." Jaha breathed. "And she isn't just a creature, she is a Titan."

 **Ray's Pov**

"Irta, you said that you would be quick about this." Ruby eye reprimanded the kelpie. "There is too much to do than just dwell on the council."

"They seemed to have forgotten one of their many injustices. I simply wished to remind them and teach some youngsters of their treachery." Irta snorted.

Ruby eye shook her head and turned to us. "Jaha, Nadia, what business do you have here?"

"We have come to see if there was a way to stop the conflict here. It is causing trouble across the veil." Jaha explained.

"It is?" Ruby eye seemed genuinely surprised.

"Yeah. We got let out of school early because of how much flooding there is." I said. "A friend of mine can't even leave her school because the flooding trapped her there."

The room was silent for a moment. Then, Ruby eye spoke.

"Irta, call off your creatures. We have won this battle today." Ruby eye turned and moved for the exit.

"But Ruby-" Irta began, but a swift glance from Ruby eye cut her off.

Irta grumbled and gnashed her teeth in anger, but followed. Just as she was about to leave, she turned to us.

"Be warned, Duel Masters, this war shall not end soon, nor will it keep boundaries. Prepare your people and prepare them well. The next time we meet, I will not pity your ignorance!"

True to her word, Ruby eye called off all of her warriors and everything went relatively back to normal.

The council thanked us for coming and we returned across the veil. Master Nadia decided to stay behind and try to find out more about the rebels. When we got to the temple, Lucy was waiting for us and did not seem too happy.

"What in the world were you guys doing over there?!" She shouted at us as we approached her.

"Watching a seahorse chew out the Council of Logos and then we got to see the seahorse get chewed out by a water dog." Allie explained. "What did you do over here?"

Lucy looked like she was about to explode with anger, but Kimora spoke before she got the chance to. "Wait, did you say water dog?"

"Yeah. A titan named Ruby Eye. Is there something special about her?" I asked.

"Yes, there is. She is the most powerful water creature with telepathic abilities. Legend says that she was powerful enough to take over King Tritonus's mind for a fraction of a second." Bob growled. "She was the inspiration for many horror stories among the fire and nature civilizations. We were told that if you met her, she would remove your mind and replace it with a part of her own for forever."

"So ever dragons are afraid of her? She was hardly taller than me!" Allie asked.

"Yes, they are." Bob said, his face hardening.

"Where is Master Nadia?" Uncle Isao asked.

"She has decided to stay behind and try to learn more of this rebellion." Jaha explained. "One of the rebellion leaders left us with some chilling words."

"Come, tell us more of the rebellion." The Master headed off to the war room and we were left with a ticked off looking Lucy.

"How bad was it?" Gabe asked.

"It started raining fish." I coughed hard to keep myself from laughing.

"How in the world did that happen?" Allie could hardly contain her laughter.

"I don't know. All I do know is that getting smacked in the face with a fish is not a pleasant feeling nor is the smell that lingers afterwards." Lucy grumbled.

"I thought I smelled something strange." Bab said, and Lucy blushed hard. Truthfully, everyone here smelled like fish, probably from the same thing Lucy endured, but none of us wanted to say anything about of it.

Suddenly, a thought came to me. I pulled out my phone and texted Raven.

[Hey, are you out of school yet?]

It took her a moment to respond, but I was glad she did.

[Not yet, but the water is finally going back down. We should be out and home in half an hour or so.]

[That's good. Will you have school tomorrow?]

[If they get the boat off of the lawn… maybe]

[There is a boat in front of your school?!]

She answered me with a picture of a small fishing boat along with a few cars at the front of the school.

I laughed hard and showed the others the conversation. They all laughed as well, but something seemed to be bothering Allie. I wanted to ask her what, but considering how she acted this morning about Raven, I decided not to.

 **Allie's Pov**

I decided to leave the temple early today, claiming that I wasn't feeling very well, but the truth is… I don't know what's going on with me. I have this makeup I can't remember putting on, I can't stand even thinking about this Raven girl, and for whatever reason, the trip to the water realm has put me on edge.

"I'm home." I called as I walked through my front door.

"Hey, sweetheart. How was school and practice today?" My dad asked me from the couch.

"Any school day with the last few hours cut off is a good day and practice was alright. I wasn't feeling well so I left a bit early." I dropped my bag on the couch and headed towards the stairs.

"Really? Do you need anything?" He moved to get up.

"No, no. I think I am just tired. I am gonna take a shower, do my homework, and turn in early for the night. Okay?" I said quickly. I ran up the steps before he could respond and bee lined for the bathroom.

I turned the shower on and pulled my shirt off. Just as I was about to unbutton my pants, something in the mirror caught my eye.

"What the-" I couldn't even think of something to say as I stared in the mirror at the dark black line running down my back.

" _What in the world is happening to me?!"_

 **No one's POV**

Ruby eye slept quietly on her silver pillow in her keep. Even though she was deeply asleep, she could still sense the presence of her old friend.

"Ruby?" A voice called out to the water titan.

"Yes, Nadia?" She answered softly.

The water master crossed the room and sat down next to the silver pillow. "How in the world is this thing sill comfortable? I gave that to you years ago."

"I have a friend who re-stuffed it for me. It is just too comfortable to let go of." The creature sighed, burying her head into the soft fabric.

"That's good. It took me forever to find a pillow big enough for you and that is still soft." Nadia touched the fabric lightly.

Ruby Eye knew the young woman didn't just come to chat and catch up. "Why have you come to my Keep?"

"Because I want to know what this rebellion is really about." The Water Master wanted to cut to the chase quickly as well. "I know you would not join a rebellion just because Irta asked you too.

The titan laughed out loud. Even after all these years, the woman still knew Ruby well. "I hope you have nothing to do for the next month then, because if I tell you, I won't be able to let you leave."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 **Gabe's Pov**

"I wish I could meet this cousin of yours, Gabriel." Sasha said as she watched me shelve books in the very back library.

"He is really amazing. Maybe if you disguise yourself, you could see him." I suggested. It would be great if Sasha could meet Wade. She has been bugging me for months to meet my brothers and parents, but I just don't think it would be a good idea.

I hate lying to my parents and Kaijudo has made me lie to them on almost a daily basis now. Now with my brothers, there are times where I have to lie just to avoid their anger if I don't do something for them. I love my brothers, but it is becoming exhausting living with them. And while they are only a year and a half away from graduating, I know not to hold hope on them going straight to college and leaving the house.

"Gabriel, what is this?" I looked over my shoulder as I put back a tablet to see that Sasha had pulled an old book off the top of the shelf.

"How did you even see that thing up there?" I asked her as she handed me a dusty journal.

"The stalker sphere told me it was up there. It apparently has been there for a while."

I dusted off the cover and read the title. "Kaijudo Guard? What's that?"

I have never heard of the guard before… I wonder why?

"Gabe, Sasha?" I heard Ray's voice call out to me from a few rows away.

"We're over here!" I called back.

"Hey Gabe, we need your help." Ray and Allie ran over to me. "Wait, what's that?"

Ray pointed to the book. And I held it up for him to read the title.

"Kaijudo Guard? What's that?" Ray asked.

"Um, Ray, can we keep to the task at hand?" Allie seemed very anxious.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Look." Allie turned around and pulled down her scarf. There was a thin black line that was in the center of her spine and down her back. "It goes all the way down my back and ends at the base of my spine, and also, the makeup I am wearing isn't makeup. I have no idea what it is, but it has been stuck to my face for days. I think it might be a curse or something."

"Maybe there is something about curses in the library?" Ray asked me.

"… Maybe. I have never seen anything like it, but there might be in one of the restricted areas. We should probably ask Master Nadia." I said after a moment.

"No! I don't want this to get out of hand. I don't feel weird or different in any way. It is just this black stuff." Allie said quickly. "I want this to be quiet."

"Well, maybe I could ask her indirectly?" I really want to impress Master Nadia, but if I break her rules, she will be angry.

"Maybe… Just be extra careful with how you phrase things." Allie glared at me.

"While you ask her, we can check out that book." I handed the journal over to Ray. He grabbed it and flipped open the front cover.

"Sasha, stay here, okay?" I asked.

"Alright. I shall help Allison and Raiden learn about this guard." She said sadly, obviously hurt that I was leaving.

"Hey, I'll be back in no time." I put a hand on her shoulder.

She nodded her head and I turned to leave.

I headed towards Nadia's private lab. She normally is in there working overtime deciphering old scrolls in languages I have never heard of before, and that was exactly what she was doing when I found her.

"Master?" I called from the doorway.

She turned quickly. I must have caught her off guard. "Yes, Gabriel?"

"I was dusting some darkness tablets when I read one and it mentioned something about curses, and I kind of want to learn more. Do we have any scrolls or tablets on that kind of thing?" I asked.

She looked down at her desk and thought for a moment. "… Yes, we do. Unfortunately, most are un-deciphered and written in ancient languages lost to the times. Is there something particular you were looking for?"

"Maybe…" I had to choose my words carefully. "I heard rumors that some curses leave markings or change the appearance of the cursed. Is there anything like that?"

"Actually, yes." She stood up and walked towards a large shelf stuffed with scrolls and books. "There are many legends of curses throughout history that have effects similar to what you described, but few scrolls of such curses have been deciphered. There is one I know if, though."

She shifted a few scrolls and pulled out what looked to be the oldest of the bunch. She turned and handed it to me. I unraveled the thin parchment and read it over.

"So, this curse is of the Kitsune clans? I have never heard of them." I said.

"Because they are such high ranking creatures. Not even a master has true control over one. Their leader is even a titan." She replied.

"Oh! About titans, why are they so powerful? I mean, what makes them different among other creatures?" I asked.

"No one is sure, but I have read of a theory that Titans can cycle mana faster than most creatures. That way, titans can take in more energy for stronger attacks, and can heal faster. There is no way to prove it though. Titans are dangerous and not to be taken lightly." She said.

"That does make some sense. Thank you for the scroll." I bowed and headed for the door.

"Gabriel." She called me back. I turned to her. "I am serious about not messing with titans. Keep Ray and Allie in check when it comes to them. Even if you have to do something drastic."

The tone of her voice frightened me. She dead serious. Keeping that in mind, I returned to the others.

 **Allie's Pov**

As Gabe left, Ray, Sasha and I sat down at one of the many tables and opened the journal again. Despite how old the cover looked, the pages were surprisingly new looking, and in those pages, were hundreds of names.

"Look, it's like it goes by generations." Ray pointed at the titles of the pages. "Jet gen, Silver gen… There are so many of them!"

I checked the dates under the titles. "It seems like they go by ten years, and then break that into two groups. Look, the names at the top of the page says Old Jet, and the bottom says New Jet."

"This goes back several generations. How have you never heard of them?" Sasha pointed out.

"I have no clue. Here, let's find the most recent group." I flipped towards the back of the journal and found that two pages had been torn out. "Huh. It looks like this gen and the one before it have been torn out…"

"I wonder what happened to this gen?" Ray wondered aloud. "Check the one before those two."

I flipped back and found the most recent gen. "It was called the stone generation. It looks about four gens back from now."

I read through the names slowly, and then my eyes landed on one name in particular. I gasped and pointed at the name. "Okay, I am reading that correctly, right?

"Mai Kimora? No way." He laughed. "Would it really?"

"It was only about fourty years ago, so maybe…" I thought for a moment.

"I am confused. What are you referring to?" Sasha tilted her head questioningly.

"Mai Kimora might be Master Kimora's relative, or more specifically… mother. It seems like she was the oldest, so it could be possible." I explained.

"So, Master Kimora might know something about the guard. We can ask him about it as soon as Gabe gets back." Ray said.

"Hey, guys!" We turned at the sound of Gabe's voice.

"Did you find anything?" I stood up quickly.

Gabe handed me a scroll. "Maybe. Apparently, few curse scrolls have been deciphered, but this one has some of your symptoms."

"You told her what happened?!" I began to get angry.

"No! I just asked about curses that change appearances, I didn't tell her what happened." Gabe huffed.

"Good, now let's see what this is about." I sat down at the table and unrolled the scroll.

The first thing we saw was a white and black fox mask. According to the scroll, these masks give creatures called Kitsunes better transformation powers, and makes it even harder to tell who is a kitsune or not. I doubt that this is my problem, because I think I would notice if I had a mask on.

The second part was that kitsune are notorious for using black magic and changing the appearance of other creatures or objects.

"Perhaps a kitsune with a mask is on this side of the veil is playing a trick on you." Sasha said suddenly. "Darkness creatures, especially Kitsune, are notorious tricksters and would rather play games than face their opponents."

"Wow. Who says light creatures can't be mean." Ray whispered in my ears. Suddenly, his phone beeped.

Ray pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked it. "Oh! It's Raven. I need to go. I'll see you guys later."

"Wait, what? Where are you going?" I asked him stupidly.

"Raven and I are meeting up at the park today. I don't like how we only see each other in the mornings, so we planned to meet up. I'll talk to you guys later." Ray said as he ran out of the library.

I scowled and crossed my arms. "A little jealous there?" Gabe asked with a smug smile.

Wha- No! I just don't like that he just ditched us!" I glared at him. "He could have told us sooner that he was going to do something with her later today."

"You do know we don't need to know everything he is doing. We don't know all of what you do in your spare time." Gabe poked my arm.

"… Let's just continue reading this stupid scroll." I huffed.

 **Ray's Pov**

I rode my bike to the park as fast as I could. Raven and I decided to meet up this afternoon because of how little we have seen each other this last week. She was out of school for a few days until they could clean up the school, so we didn't get to meet at the bus stop for a while. I felt bad about it, so I asked if she wanted to meet up at the park today. She told me that she would text me when we could meet up since she had things to do earlier today.

I reached the park and began to look around for her. I noticed a blonde and black haired girl sitting on a bench nearby, and headed over to her.

"Hey, Raven!" I called out, just to make sure it really was her.

The girl turned and I was met with a familiar face. She stood up and ran over to me. "Yo, how's it going?"

"Pretty good. How are you?" I smiled.

"Better now that I am outside. I was cooped up in an office all day!" She stretched and we began to walk back to the bench.

"Really, what were you doing there?" I asked as we sat down.

There was an immediate change in her mood. "Nothing much. Just getting my eye examined." She pointed to her covered eye.

"Oh, sorry for asking."

"You didn't do anything wrong." She rested her arm on my shoulder. "It's just been a bit of a crappy day."

"Well, what do you want to do?" I asked her.

"Don't know. I'm up for anything."

"Well…" I tried to think of all of the things around here. "We could go to the zoo. It's not far and I am pretty sure they are having some kind of sale on tickets. I'll pay."

"Sounds fun! And I have my own money. I'll pay for my ticket." We stood up. Raven ran to a nearby bike rack and retrieved her bike. I hopped onto mine and waited for her to get back.

We rode to the zoo together and, after a long argument, I paid for both tickets. We wandered around the park for a long time, looking at the animals, talking about drawing, school, and sometimes really random things. It was really fun, especially when we reached the petting zoo. To get into the petting zoo, you need another ticket. We had another argument about who would be paying, but after looking at prices, we decided it would be better for both of us to pay for our own.

"Oh wow, it's so soft!" Raven cried as she held a tiny fox cub.

"I guess it feels better than it smells." I covered my nose.

"Here, touch it." She grabbed my hand and put my hand of the fox's head. While the little thing did have quite the smell, it was very soft. I couldn't deny that it was one of the cutest things I have seen as well.

After I convinced her to put the cub down, we headed over to a small play area for little kids. There was a hotdog stand there and we decided to stop for a bite to eat.

"Hey, Raven." I began as we sat down.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay? You seem a bit distracted." All throughout the day, she would go really quiet suddenly, and then turn around like it was fine.

"Yeah…" She did it again. She has gone quiet. I gave her a stern look, or as stern as I could. The moment she saw my face, she began to snicker, and I couldn't keep it up. We laughed for a bit, but then Raven looked down.

"I'm not kidding. What's wrong?" I pressed.

"Okay, fine." I smiled as she relented. "I didn't want to say anything because I don't want anyone to worry. This morning, I was at the doctor's office getting my eye checked out. It is infected."

"Oh." I suddenly felt bad for asking at all.

"It's nothing I haven't been through before. The only problem is that the infection is too deep to just treat with antibiotics and medicine. I am going to need surgery to get my eye cleaned out. I've had it done before, so I know what to expect, but…" She trailed off.

"But it is still surgery." I finished. "When is it going to be done?"

"The date isn't set, but soon. I will probably have it done by the end of next week." I was surprised at how soon it would be.

"How long will you be gone?"

"Maybe a month. I am used to what is going to happen, so recovery shouldn't last long."

"Well… As soon as you get it done, call me. I would like to know when you are alright so I can bug you more." I tried to change the dreary tone, and it seemed to work.

"Bug me? You made this crappy day awesome? You do remember the petting zoo part, right?" She laughed.

"I didn't think we would ever leave!"

"Hey, I saw you with the joey. You didn't want to stop feeding it!" She poked my side and I blushed.

"Hey, Ray Junior needed some time with Ray Senior!" I jokingly said.

"Wow, you married a kangaroo?" she shot back.

After we finished our food, we checked out the rest of the zoo and decided to head home. It was getting late and Raven told me at how crazy her father can be about curfew. We biked to her house where we said our goodbyes and I headed back for home. We actually passed my house not long ago, which I pointed out to her.

As soon as I walked into the door, my mom and Grandpa were waiting at the door for me.

"Was that girl Raven?" Mom asked with a weird smile.

"Yeah, why?" I responded, putting my bike up.

"She looks like a nice girl. How was your date?"

"Wha- Mom! It wasn't a date! We just haven't seen each other in a while so we decided to do something today." So that's what this is about. I don't like Raven in that way. She is just a friend. A friend I am worried about.

Instead of arguing, I called to Okami and headed to my room. She happily followed me and I played with her until dinner.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 **Allie's Pov**

Ray has been kind of distracted ever since his little "Date" with Raven. I am tempted to ask him about it, but I don't want it so seem like I am jealous or something. How in the world can I be jealous of a girl I have never met?

Master Kimora has us doing stance holding in the Dojo again today, but for whatever reason, I had the strange feeling that something was going to happen today. I know I normally have a bit of a sense for odd things, but I never would have expected what walked through the dojo doors.

All three of our jaws dropped at the woman who walked into the dojo. She was tall with long curly blonde hair that ended just above the middle of her back. She wore a dark red leather jacket, black pants, and black, knee high boots with red and gold accents. If I didn't know any better, I would have said she looked like some kind of model, but what model would come into some hole in the wall dojo? She took off her large sunglasses and her crystal blue eyes swept over us.

"Hey, do you three know about the special lessons?" She asked us, with a voice like silk. All three of us recognized the code for Kaijudo. We nodded our heads and she smiled. "Great! Do you know where Master Nadia would be?"

"Probably in her lab. She has been working on deciphering something lately." Gabe answered.

"Thanks!" She said cheerily.

The three of us exchanged glances and silently decided to follow the woman. We entered the temple and about halfway to the library, we ran into master Kimora.

"Maria, is that you?" Kimora opened his arms and the woman, Maria, gave him a warm hug.

"Ben, it's been forever!" She laughed as Kimora lifted her off the ground and placed her back down.

"What are you doing here? I thought you wouldn't be back for another month." Kimora asked.

"Well, I am back for a few reasons… Some of which I am not willing to say around kids." She cleared her throat a bit, and winked.

The three of us shared an annoyed look, and shrugged. Kimora waved goodbye as we followed Maria through the library and to Nadia's private lab. Once again, she was hard at work deciphering some old scroll.

"Can you put that away for a bit?" Maria asked?

Nadia whipped around in surprise, and her face melted into a happy smile as Maria crossed the lab and embraced her. When the two finally stepped back from each other, all of us were expecting a cute little jumble of sentences from the two who obviously haven't seen each other in a while, and we might have gotten that… too bad none of us know Russian.

"I thought you said you would be back next month?" Master Nadia.

"Well… problems arose and I am back early… With Presents!" Maria opened her bag and handed her a scroll. "Also, I found Nigel."

I feel like my jaw hit the ground. She said it so nonchalantly too! "Wait, wait, wait! You found Nigel and waited until now to say something?!" I cried.

"Where is he?" Nadia asked with a sigh. The entire tone in the room changed so quickly. From happiness to a quiet chorus of sighs and Maria's laughter.

"He's in Australia. I visited the outpost to get the scroll and lo and behold, there he was, chained to a chair because the specialist didn't know what to do with him. They apparently had a bit of an accident and their phones broke, so they lost the contact number of the temple. It's just a mess over there, despite what the twins said." Maria explained herself after she calmed down a bit.

"You're kidding right?" Ray asked.

"If only. I need a map of the kaiju realm that parallels our world so I can go pick him up." Maria said.

Nadia walked over to one of the shelves and took out a large scroll. She rolled it out on her desk and pointed to the fire realm. "You will have to following the ring of fire around Japan and down to Australia. I suggest taking this route as it is the safest. You will be going along the water fire border the entire way."

"Sounds fun. I'm gonna go ask around and see if anyone is up for a field trip." Maria turned to the three of us. "Are any of you interested?"

"You didn't even need to ask. They would have followed anyways." Master Nadia sighed.

"Oh, really? Well, I might need to find another adult to tag along then." She scratched the back of her head in thought. "Oh, I know who I want to come with! I'll see you later, Sestra."

We followed as Maria ran out of the lab. _Sestra? I had no idea Nadia had a sister._ I thought to myself. Master Nadia tried to say something to her, but was gone too fast to listen. We didn't exactly hear either since we followed her.

We followed her to the Master Chavez' cave.

"Yo, Chavez!" Maria called out to the fire master.

"Do either of you feel like this might be a bad idea?" I asked Ray and Gabe quietly.

"What, that Nadia's younger sister is about to take her older sister's boyfriend into the fire realm? No, it's a perfectly reasonable idea." Gabe answered sarcastically.

"We might want to keep an eye on them if he does come with, which he probably will." Ray said quietly.

"Maria, is that you?" Master C called out.

"Yep. You wanna come get Nigel from Australia with us?" She asked.

"How? The ley lines were des- wait. You want to go through the veil, don't you?" He walked over to us from his little meditation area.

"Yeah. I got a parallel map from Nadi, are you in or out?" She waved the map in front of his face.

"Fine, I'll go." He sighed. "But you need to listen to me sometimes."

"I'll listen when you make sense." She scoffed.

All three of us cringed and waited for Master Chavez to respond, but instead of saying something back, he opened a breach in the veil. Maria jumped through as soon as she could, and Chavez let out a deep sigh. We followed her through the veil and closed it behind us.

 **Ray's Pov**

Once we crossed the veil, I summoned Bob to make the trip quicker.

"Wow. So Nadi wasn't kidding when she said the rules were loosening up." Maria said as she watched me climb up Bob's arm.

"Yeah, thanks to these three." Chavez said.

"Well, there's a first time for everything." She said excitedly. She climbed up bob's arm and waited for the others to climb up as well. Once everyone was on his back, Bob spread his wings and took to the skies. I have to say, it was pretty funny watching Maria scream with joy as we soared skywards.

Once Maria calmed down, she directed Bob where to go.

"This path might not be the best idea. There are rumors around the fire civilization about an attack near the water fire border." Bob said.

"So, a fire/nature creature would rather fly across miles and miles of water? From what I've seen, something's up in the water civ." Maria asked.

"The water Civilization is in the middle of a sort of civil war." I explained. "There is a small, yet strong, rebellion against the council of logos."

"Wow. Hopefully it doesn't spill over into the other civilizations." She looked over the lava fields.

"Hey, there's the border." Gabe pointed to a large bit of blue on the horizon.

Instead of following along side the border, we decided to go a bit inland. According to the map, we were about half way there before Gabe spotted something interesting.

"Hey guys, look over there!" He pointed farther inland, and we saw something quite strange. A massive fox-like creature was chained down to some kind of platform and was being pulled across the lava field, surrounded by almost fifty dragon and drakon guards.

"What's going on?" I asked Bob.

"A prisoner transfer. I have heard rumors that there was going to be a major transfer from a jail not far from here to Blastforge." He replied. "We need to leave. Those guards will not tolerate us being so close."

Bob began to veer away from the group, but not before Gabe spotted something else… Something way more concerning. A large groups of fire creatures were heading straight for the guards!

"What do they think they are doing?!" Maria cried. "They're all going to get themselves killed!"

"Bob, we have to do something!" I yelled to him.

"There is nothing we can do. Look at the large dragon leading the other creatures." I looked to the massive wyvern flying straight for the prisoner. "Her name is Raja, the Sky Burner. The titan rumored to lead the attack, and now it is happening. They know what they are getting into."

"But, what about the prisoner? If he needs that many guards, he shouldn't be freed." Master Chavez said.

Bob growled. "…Fine. I know that creature, and he cannot be freed no matter what."

Bob landed near by to let us off and summon some creatures.

" _Gillaflame, the assulter!"_

" _Scaradorable of gloom hollow!"_

" _Reef Prince Glu-urgle!"_

Maria performed the fire kata and called out a creature. _"Dragon Mare!"_

The dragon mare was a large horse with scales and spines instead of a mane and fire as a tail. It was a high powered, difficult to control creature, so difficult in fact that no one under the title of specialist were allowed to attempt summoning it. It snarled as Maria hopped onto its back.

"Okay, Ray and I will try and warn the guards, the rest of you, try and talk to those creatures. Convince them not to fight." Master Chavez ordered.

"All of us should head over to the guards." Maria argued. "If Raja is really going to attack them, I doubt she will be convinced to stop now. Besides, I don't think Mare or the Scaradorable will be able to catch up to a flying creature."

"Or, you can convince all of the walking creatures following her that there are over fifty trained dragon and drakon guards that will kill anything that seems aggressive?" Chavez shot back. "If you convince them not to fight, she might stop as well."

"…Fine. Just be careful. If you die, I will kill you." She glared at master Chavez while Allie and Gabe climbed up onto Squeaky.

 **Gabe's Pov**

Maria led the way to the group while Allie and I hung back on Squeaky. Ever since we saw that prisoner, Allie has been really quiet.

"Hey, Allie, is something wrong?" I finally asked.

"You saw how that creature looked, right?" Allie asked. I was taken back by how serious she sounded.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"You didn't notice, did you? Did anything about that creature look familiar?" She pressed, looking back at me.

I though back on the prisoner. It was a huge fox creature with nine tails, it had a black line running down its back… and black markings around its eyes and mouth!

"It has black marks like yours!" I exclaimed, but Allie didn't seem happy at this. "Maybe it knows why you have them."

"Maybe, but right now, we need to prepare for a fight." Allie looked ahead.

"What, why?" I was a bit startled. Did she really think we wouldn't be able to convince at least a few to stop?

"Guys, abort mission! I repeat, ABORT MISSION!" Maria yelled from ahead, the dragon mare skidding to a stop ahead of us.

Just as we reached the top of an up rise, I realized how badly we misjudged how far apart the two groups were.

The battle had already begun.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

 **Ray's POV**

My stomach turned as soon as Raja let out her battle cry. All of the guards were ready even before they turned their heads, drawing their weapons and tightening their formations around the prisoner.

"No, we're too late!" Master Chavez looked back to where we left the others. "Where in the world is Maria?"

I looked around for Allie and Gabe, but I couldn't see them anywhere. "What now?"

"We help defend the prisoner and keep out of the guard's way!" Bob growled. "Hold on, I'll take us higher.

Bob tilted his wings and we soared skywards, getting well out of the way of the first blows. As we rose, I looked back on the prisoner. The entire time, it was simply lying on the platform with its eyes closed, but now, two bright green eyes were glaring at Raja and her followers. He even seemed a bit… annoyed.

"Bob, who is that creature?" I asked.

"His name is Kura Kitsune, the murderer. He is a half-darkness half fire hybrid who is also prince of the fire foxes."

"How did he get that title?" I immediately regretted asking.

"He killed my father." Bob might not have liked his dad, but even so, I could hear the emotion in his voice.

"This creature is more dangerous than we anticipated." Master Chavez began. "I have heard stories about Napalmeon. He was a mighty general and the right hand of Infernus. If Kura was able to kill him, we really need to keep him prisoner."

When we leveled out, a clang of metal signaled that the first blows of this fight have been traded. We looked down to see Raja locked, claw to claw, with another wyvern. Unlike most fire creatures, Raja wasn't wearing any weapons. She didn't even have any armor. Raja was fighting bare against armored dragons, and was winning.

I watched amazed as Raja easily threw the other wyvern to the ground and go after another dragon. Her supporters finally made it to the field and the two forces met with devastating force.

I looked back again, trying desperately to spot Allie and Gabe.

"Head's up, guys!" Allie's voice came from above us.

All of us looked up in surprise to see the Allie, Gabe, and Squeaky riding on Draglide the swiftest and Maria on her Dragon Mare who easily galloped through the sky.

"Wow, how can that thing fly?!" I asked Maria.

"Because of reasons." She answered simply. "Now, what's the plan? We failed to stop them, so now what?"

"Now, we keep that fox thing in chains." I answered.

"No problem, I think Draglide will be able to get closer than Bob, so we will go on ahead. Maybe you guys will be able to catch her attention." Gabe suggested.

"Woah, woah, woah, you two want to get close to that thing?" Maria asked.

"Yeah. We can help out the defense better closer up, while Ray gets their attention from behind." Allie explained.

"Maria, you and I should get down there and offer some ground support. Gillaflame and Dragon Mare fight better on the ground." Master Chavez commanded.

"Fine, hop on. I'll take us down." She reached out her hand and Chavez jumped off of Bob's back.

For a moment, we watched the two descend. "Hey guys, good luck." I called out to Allie and Gabe.

"Show that titan what a hybrid can really do!" Allie shouted as Bob raced towards Raja.

"Oh, there is something you should know about Raja." Bob began.

"What?" I yelled over the wind.

"Raja isn't just any dragon. She's my-"He was cut off as another dragon from the attacking group charged us.

Using her fiery breath, Bob managed to keep the smaller dragon from ramming us head on, but the impact still sent him reeling. Roaring in frustration, Bob aimed his rockets at the dragon and fired.

It screeched in pain as the rockets made contact and exploded, but neither of us could focus on it for long, because we were now right next to Raja.

Bob roared again, catching the massive wyvern's attention.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my dear Tatsurion. Have you come to join our cause, or to fight against us?" Raja's powerful yet silky smooth voice boomed.

"No. I have come to keep this creature prisoner. I don't know why you are here, but Kura must be kept in chains." Bob snarled.

"Kept in chains? Oh, my sweet boy, that is not what we are here to do." Raja smiled, baring her sharp teeth.

"We won't let you kill him either." I added.

"Nephew, we are here for something far greater than freeing a prisoner… We are here, to begin a revolution!" Raja let out a blood curdling roar and raised her talons towards us.

 **Gabe's Pov**

Draglide raced to the fox creature's side. Luckily, none of the guards seemed concerned with us and we easily made it to the platform.

"Okay, so we finally got to it. Now what?" I looked over at Allie, who had already jumped off of the dragon.

"I ask this fox some questions." Allie started heading towards its head and I began to follow.

"Danger, G-abriel! Power level at max. Squash imminent!" Gargle squeaked inside my backpack.

"Don't worry, Gargle. The creature is properly restrained." I reassured my partner.

Allie and I finally reached its head, and man was it something else. The creature's black markings around its eyes just made its bright green irises even more intense, and the black around its mouth made its massive teeth all the more whiter.

"Uhh, maybe this was a mistake…" I whispered to Allie.

"Hey, fox face!" Allie yelled to the creature.

The fox didn't even look at us. It still had its eyes pinned to the skies. Its long ears were pierced with chains that were holding them down to the platform, but that didn't stop them from straining against the metal.

"I was talking to you, you know!" Allie yelled again.

The creature made a strange huff sound, and a low snarl shook the platform. "What do you want, pipsqueak?" It finally spoke.

"I want some answers!" Allie stood right next to the creature's eye, which was easily two feet taller than her.

"I doubt I could provide any, but ask your questions." His thundering voice sent shivers down my spine.

"Why do I have this black stuff on me?" Finally, the creature looked at Allie as she showed him the line on her back and how the black on her face wouldn't wipe off.

The creature widened his eyes in surprise, and then narrowed them dangerously. "Who are you?"

Allie opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly, an enemy drakon jumped up onto the platform next to us. Squeaky screeched and jumped in front of Allie just as the drakon attacked.

"Squeaky!" Allie yelled as her partner was banished. I could see the anger on her face as she raised her hands. "Draglide, knock him down!"

The dragon jumped over to us and knocked the drakon away with its tail, and chased it away with a few rockets. I looked above us and saw that Raja and Bob were going at it right above us, and Bob was losing altitude quickly to the giant wyvern.

"Allie, Ray needs help!" I called as I mounted Draglide.

"But…" Allie looked between me and the fox, who was now intently watching her. "Ugh, fine!"

Allie climbed up Draglide's side and we took off.

"Sorry, dear nephew, but I have important things to do." Raja snarled, getting ready to finish Bob off.

"Not so fast!" Allie yelled, commanding Draglide to let loose several rockets at once.

The rockets collided with Raja, and she screamed. But it wasn't out of pain… it was more like annoyance. We already witnessed the power of a small titan, but not one that was three times the size of Bob, and the power difference was staggering.

Raja turned towards us as Bob flew around to get a better vantage point, and I immediately regretted everything I did up until this point. Her yellow eyes bore into my body as she sucked in a large breath.

"Allie… we need to get out of here, now!" I yelled. She didn't answer, but she quickly directed Draglide away from us.

It was too late though. Raja's fiery breath hit Draglide like a freight train, blowing us both yards away from the fight. Allie and I screamed as we fell through the air. I tried to reach out for her, but we were too far away and the distance between us was growing.

I closed my eyes and continued to scream, but then, I landed on something hard. I opened my eyes to see Ray looking down at me.

"Are you okay?!" He asked.

"Yeah, but what about Allie?" I asked.

Both of us looked over Bob's shoulder to see Allie still falling through the sky. Bob was no longer flying, but dropping like a stone to try and catch her before it was too late. It wasn't enough though, he was still leagues away from her.

"I can't reach her!" Bob snarled in frustration, still trying to reach out for her.

"No!" Ray and I yelled at the same time.

Suddenly, a large boom and the snapping of chains drew our attention away from Allie for a split second.

The fox creature was now standing, with broken chains hanging down from his limbs, and seemed to be locked onto Allie.

With two lunges, the creature was standing right under her, and it reached up his massive human like hand. Allie landed square in the middle of his hand, and he closed his long fingers around her.

 **Allie's Pov**

I screamed until I landed on something firm, yet very furry. I opened my eyes to see the fox was no longer chained to the platform, but standing on his hind legs and holding me with his front hand. I looked up and locked eyes with the fox.

"Don't worry. I won't let any harm come to you." He whispered to me.

His gentleness surprised me, and he carefully helped me onto his shoulder.

"I think I have had enough of these pests." He grumbled.

"What are you going to do?" I asked, a bit worried.

"I am going to end this nonsense." He bared his teeth in a terrifying grin. "Hang on!"

He got down on all fours and began to run back to the fight, or more specifically, straight to Raja. Letting out a ear piercing shriek, the fox launched himself up into the air and slammed his forepaw into Raja's face.

"Well, well, well, finally decide to get up, Kura?" Raja grinned. "Now the real fight begins."

Kura… so that's his name.

"There will be no real fight, Raja. There is a reason to why I am in chains. A reason why I choose to stay quiet in this world. You will find no ally in me nor will you find a friend." Kura said. "Be gone, before I lose my temper and kill someone."

"I have not come to free you. I am here to announce that the time has come for the rebellion. Prepare yourself, Kura Kitsune, you will be needed to lead your people when this is over." Raja backed up, and then turned to fly away.

She let out a final roar, and all of her followers turned tail and ran as well.

"Wait, so all of this was just an announcement?" I asked Kura.

"I am rarely told news, so yes. It is also a signal to the guards that they are stronger than they appear." He answered.

"What are you going to do now?" He turned his head to the side and looked at me.

"I am going to answer your question to the best of my ability. I am not sure how or why you have those marks, but now that they are there, they will never come off. You might find a spell to hide them, but they will be with you for the rest of your life."

"Do you know any of the spells?"

"No. I may be Kitsune, but I was taken from them long before I could learn all of their abilities and spells." His chest fell a bit.

"So, should I try and find a Kitsune then?"

"No. There is a reason as to why you have these marks, and a reason to why you don't know how you got them. Your answers will come in time, just be patient." He raised his paw to me, and I jumped on it.

He lowered me down to the ground, and I saw Master Chavez and Maria running up to me.

"Allie!" I looked up to see Bob land nearby and laughed as Gabe and Ray tumbled off of his back and ran to greet me.

"Hey, guys. I'm alright." I laughed as the two hugged me.

"We thought you were a goner!" Gabe shouted. He was acting angry, but I knew he was just relieved I was okay.

"It's alright, Kura saved me." I looked up at the fox creature.

"Before I go, there is something I wish to give you. But first, what is your name?" Kura asked me.

"Oh, right! My name is Allison Underhill, but my friends call me Allie." I responded.

Kura sat down on his hind legs and balled up his fist. A dim light emanated from between his long fingers, and as he uncurled them, the glow dimmed to a single point. The glowing object rolled to me, and I grabbed it. I held up the object to see that it was a golden ring.

"It's a titan ring!" Maria and Chavez gasped.

"Whenever you are in desperate need of help, throw this ring and call out my name, Kura Kitsune, the murderer. I will come for no one but you." I looked up at Kura.

"I- I don't know what to say... Thank you." I stammered.

Kura bent down and I hugged his nose. "I must go, pipsqueak. I am needed elsewhere."

I let go and Kura returned to the guards, laid down on the platform, and allowed the guards to re-chain him.

"It's time to go." Maria said quietly. "We're already running late, and I doubt the guards will tolerate our presence much longer.

Master Chavez and Maria banished their creatures, and we all climbed back onto Bob. I continued to watch Kura even as we flew farther and farther away.

There was something strange gnawing at me. Something about Kura that seemed to tug at my heart. I care about him, but there was something else in me telling me to care. I don't know why I feel this way, but I will figure it out, just like how I will find out how to get rid of these marks.

* * *

Just as a little side note, Kura is based off of Kurama from Naruto. So that's what he looks like, but with more neck fur and the black marks.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 **Ray's Pov**

The five of us tumbled out of the veil breach before hitting solid ground. Somehow, Maria managed to land on her feet, and close the breach behind us.

"Okay… so all in favor of just going across the water civ next time?" She rose her hand.

The rest of us rose out hands as well and stood up, dusting ourselves off. I looked around to see nothing but dirt and a few scattered plants around us.

"Umm, why are we in a desert?" I asked.

"Welcome to the outback, kids. Nothing but dusty fields, animals that want to kill you, and hot, hot, sun for miles!" She gestured all around us.

"Hey, I wonder if we'll see a kangaroo or something." Gabe elbowed Allie, but she still seemed spaced out.

Ever since we left Kura to the guards, Allie has been unusually silent. I could tell she was struggling with leaving him to be chained again, especially since he gave her as close to an answer about the black marks as he could.

"Hey, Allie?" Maria called to her softly.

"What?" She answered, a little harshly.

"Listen, I know it was hard leaving him, but it was for the best. He killed a very important dragon, and he is doing his time. Besides, he gave you his titan ring, so you will be able to call him when you need him." Maria placed her hand on Allie's shoulder. "Trust me. I know how hard it is to let someone go back to something bad."

"You do?" Allie looked up at her.

"Yeah. Though my friend was a complete jerk about it and deserved everything he got, but you will see him again. I promise. Now, let's find a bus or something and get this trip over with."

We walked for quite a while before finding a road. According to Maria, the dojo here was more like a shed in the middle of nowhere. And man was she right.

Once she found out where we were, she took us straight to a small shack in the middle of nowhere. She had to kick open the broken door and once we were inside, she pulled up some floorboards and uncovered an underground bunker.

"The ley line center for Australia is here, but since they were destroyed, it's been abandoned. Though someone did find another use for it…" Maria explained while she looked for a light.

Once she found a light switch, she flicked it on to reveal Nigel tied to a chair.

"Well, well, well, Nigel Brightmore. How far have you fallen?" Maria asked.

"I am not in the mood to be mocked." He turned towards us. His annoyed expression quickly changed to shock as his eyes landed on us.

"How's it going, Nigel?" Allie asked with a grin. "Betray anyone else lately?"

"Hello, Master Chavez. It is good to see you again." He completely ignored Allie, but all of us could see he was ticked off.

"I can't really say the same." Chavez then let out a sigh. "You know what we must do when we get back."

"It is our way. I made a mistake leaving the order. I tried…" Nigel's voice trailed off.

"We know what you did." Gabe began quietly. "Because of you, the Choten and Tierra weren't able to send other creatures across the veil. So, thanks for that."

Nigel put his head down and didn't respond. Maria and Chavez untied him from the chair, and led him out of the bunker and shack. The rest of the trip back went off without a hitch.

Instead of going over the fire Civilization, we crossed the water civ. Once we got back to the temple, Jaha and Isao were waiting to take Nigel. Master Chavez went with them, but the rest of us decided to head over to the library.

Maria wanted to check on how much progress Nadia made on deciphering the scroll, Allie and Gabe wanted to research the Kitsune and Kura, and I just decided to follow my friends.

Eventually, the three of us gave up looking for anything on Kura since, according to the library, he didn't exist. Also, we couldn't find much on the Kitsune, so the three of us decided to ask master Nadia about them.

We were just about to open the doors of Nadia's personal lab, but some shouting through the door stopped us.

"You have to be kidding me! You could DIE Nadia!" Maria's voice was unmistakable.

"I have torn all of my resources apart, there is no reason as to why the ley lines have stopped working. This might be our only chance of fixing them, and it is a chance we have to take." Nadia's voice was a lot calmer, but there was an unmistakable shake in her voice that caught us all off guard.

"Did you simply miss the fact that you could DIE?! Nadia, there has to be another way…" Maria's voice broke into a sob.

"There isn't." Nadia's voice was very solemn, and I knew it was something really bad.

"If you have to… Please let me find Wade. He would be the only one to save you if something went wrong."

"No. He made his choice, and I would rather not have the distraction." Nadia replied.

"No way…" Gabe whispered. "No, it couldn't be."

"You mean it couldn't be your cousin, Wade? With how things normally work out… I bet fifty bucks that it is him." Allie sighed.

The three of us quietly tiptoed away from the door as soon as we heard Maria fully break down. Neither needed to know that any of us were ease dropping, at least for a while…

 **Gabe's Pov**

I ran home quickly, hoping to catch Wade before he left for work. He normally takes the night shift every other day, and this was not the other day, so I needed to hurry. Just as I ran inside, I saw Wade packing his bag and pulling on his bike gear.

"Hey, Wade! I need to ask you something." I called to him.

"Okay, what's up little man?" Wade put his scrubs into his bag and zipped it up.

"Do you know what this is?" I pulled out my gauntlet from my pocket, and Wade froze.

"Oh, that…" Wade let out a sigh. "How did you guess I knew about it?"

"I didn't. I overheard a girl named Maria mention you. Do you know each other?" I asked.

"I didn't really know her, but I knew her older sisters well." Wade sat down on the couch and motioned for me to sit next to him.

"Sisters?"

"Yeah. I'm guessing you know Master Nadia is Maria's older sister, but Nadia also has a twin sister named Annushka. I was pretty close with them a long time ago, but not anymore." He said sadly.

"What happened?" I asked, cautiously.

"I screwed up, badly. Maybe I'll tell you one day, but not now. Especially since I need to get going before I'm late." Wade stood up quickly, grabbed his bag and helmet, and left.

I watched has he left, and knew something was wrong. My normally happy go lucky cousin seemed… crestfallen, and didn't hold himself the way he normally did as he walked out the door.

As the day went on, I tried to think of what might have happened between them, and the more I thought about it, the more confused I got. Sure, Wade could be a bit much at times, but he knew when to be serious. He also is a very apologetic person when he does something wrong. I have no clue what he might have done to make the two so angry at him.

After thinking things over for a while, I decided to do something slightly stupid. If master Nadia was going to do something so dangerous, and Wade was the only one to help, I had to somehow get them to make amends.

As I thought more and more about it, I realized I am not as good a schemer as I thought I was. After a while, I gave up and called the two best schemers I know.

"So how are we gonna get the two in the same room, let alone have them talk?" Allie wondered aloud."

"Maybe you could just ask her to meet you somewhere about a creature sighting, and have Wade with you?" Ray suggested.

"Do you really think she would just do that?" I asked.

"I think you are overthinking things, Gabe." Allie sighed. "She would probably come if you called her. You are her favorite adept at the moment."

"What makes you think that?"

"Maybe because you are probably the only Adept she has ever seen who follows all of her rules in the library? Or that you actually try and think things through rather than just jump into a duel. Or maybe because you have been trying to impress her to become her personal apprentice and it is working?! Allie basically yelled through the phone.

"I never noticed she was actually paying attention." I mumbled.

"Dude. You were her favorite from day one! She even recommended you to be the light liaison. You need to have a bit more faith in yourself." Ray said. "Listen, I've gotta go. But seriously, she listens to you. Good luck."

"I need to go to. If you need any help, you know how to find us." Allie hung up as well.

I spent the rest of the day finishing homework and studying the tablet archive on my phone that Master Nadia let me download. As I read through some of the tablets, a thought hit me. _Huh, no one else has all of these tablets on their phone… Maybe she has noticed._

 **Wade's Pov**

I looked out the window of the hospital and watched the sun go down. Annushka has already forgiven me for what I did, but I know Nadia. We are too alike. I wouldn't forgive someone for what I did, so neither will she.

I sighed as my pager beeped. I turned to walk away, but looked back on the sunset one last time. Shaking my head, I turned again and headed to my next patient.

I was just about there when something stopped me. There was a strange coolness on my neck. I pulled my necklace out from under my shirt and gasped as my Titan ring began to glow green. Something was wrong.


	10. Chapter 10

**Allie's Pov**

Yesterday's events have left me an absolute mess. Kura has no idea what the marks are, we can't find anything about the kitsune, and the marks are getting worse! The line on my back has thickened drastically and now the tips of my hair are turning black! I don't know what to think anymore. Heck, I can hardly think because of how little sleep I got last night thinking everything over. I just wish something in my life would go right for once.

I jumped off the bus with Gabe and waited for Ray's bus. When he moved, he had to change busses. I was kind of sad that I wouldn't get to see him, but it wasn't a big deal.

"Hey, that's Ray's bus." Gabe pointed out, snapping me out of my half asleep daze. We watched as all of the kids jumped off, and were once again disappointed to see that Ray wasn't on it. "I guess he took the city bus again."

"But why? We both know that he wakes up early enough to catch it on time, so why is he taking the city bus?" I huffed.

"Maybe because he wants to see Raven? Considering the fact that we haven't met her, I guess she is too busy to do much in the afternoon." Gabe suggested.

"Or maybe she just wants him to herself." I said without thinking.

"Really, Allie?" His harshness caught me off guard. "Listen, I know Ray is super dense for not noticing your feelings, but you remember what he said about her, right? She's just a friend, and one he doesn't get to see often."

"Wow. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?" I snapped back as we turned to head into the school.

"No! I mean, maybe. It's just that Wade didn't come home last night, and we're all a bit worried." He lowered his head, and I immediately felt bad.

"Well, he is an adult. I seriously doubt he could get himself into too much trouble." I tried to reassure him.

"I know, but he was into some bad stuff when he was our age. I know that was a long time ago, but…"

"But there's always that chance to fall back." I finished.

"Yeah." Gabe replied sadly.

We walked to class in silence and met up with Lucy. She was absent for a few days because she got sick, so there was a lot to tell her. She was obviously aggravated to be gone when something exciting happened for the first time in almost a year, but after hearing about the rebellion in fire as well, she was kind of glad to be gone.

"Do you think something else will happen?" She asked. "In the other civilizations, I mean. First water, which didn't seem to have any problems at all, and now fire? Something doesn't feel right."

"I agree." Ray's voice caused us all to jump. He sat down beside us and stared at the table. "It's also weird that we've been in Kaijudo for almost a year, been all over the kaiju realm, and have never seen or heard of a titan before. Now we've encountered four. Dilpon, Ruby eye, Kura, and Raja."

"I've scoured the library for tablets on them and any other titans, but I haven't found any. I don't even think the masters know where those tablets are." Gabe sighed, completely frustrated.

"What makes you think that?" Lucy asked.

"Because don't you think the masters would be a bit more prepared if they did know about them? Heck, as far as we know, only Allie and Master Nadia even have titan rings." I unconsciously touched the golden ring on my ring finger.

"Maybe other duelists have them as well. There can't just be two people on earth with titan rings." Lucy said.

"I don't think it's that the masters don't know." I began slowly. "I think they might be afraid of them."

"Really?" All three stared at me with questioning looks.

"Yeah. Think about it. Master Nadia had a titan ring this entire time, even when we were fighting the Choten, but she never summoned it. None of them even thought of summoning a titan when the monarchs went rampant, and that happened twice!"

"You know, that might actually be true." Lucy said after a moment of thought.

"I wonder if it's the same for the Kitsune." Gabe voiced my exact thought.

"Did someone call me?" The janitor, who was quietly cleaning up a mess in the hall asked.

"No, sorry- wait a sec… Your name is Kitsune?" I asked.

"My name is Haku Kitsune." He tipped his hat to us.

"Really?" I asked. "I thought your name was something else."

"What did you think it was?"

He had me there. I honestly never took the time to learn, let alone ask what his name was. I felt my face grow hot. "I don't know, but… sorry."

"No harm done, Allison. Now, the bell is about to ring. Get to class before you're late." He laughed.

 **Gabe's Pov**

After another long day of class, I was more than ready for school to end. I really wanted to get home to see if Wade was back and find out why he was gone for so long.

"Okay, before the bell rings, I have a few announcements." Mr. J began. "First off, there will be a shortened schedule next week Friday for the school dance. I will hand out some fliers with more information about it."

He passed around the papers and we all looked at the form. I exchanged a look with my friends and we all had the same look. _Not this time._

Lucy wasn't there when the mess at the last dance happened, but we told her enough for her to agree that that was one of the craziest nights of our lives.

Once the bell rang, I said goodbye to them and headed for my bus. I might be a bit late for practice, but I really want to see if Wade was home.

The bus ride seemed to last forever, but I began to feel even more anxious as I stepped off the bus. I briskly walked to my house and opened the front door. My parents weren't off work yet, and my brothers have after school detention today, so I was completely alone. I checked the backyard, the back rooms, and the kitchen, but Wade wasn't there. I sighed and pulled out my phone to call him.

 _Maybe he will answer this time._ I thought to myself. Just as I began to type his number, Ray called me.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked, trying to sound happy.

"Okay, so… Wade's at the temple and bad things happened. Just get over here, Okay?" He hung up before I could say anything.

 _What on earth could have happened?!_ I ran out the front door and headed towards the temple. It wasn't a far run, so I reached the temple in about eight minutes. Tore open the doors, ran to the back room and through the mirrors, and headed down into the temple.

Eventually, I found Ray, Allie, and Lucy near the infirmary. All three had their ears to a door and were listening so intently, none of them noticed me run up to them.

"Where is he?" I gasped, completely out of breath.

"Apparently, Wade came to the temple early this morning. Maria was leaving around the time he arrived, and he startled her badly enough to where she punched him in the nose and he fell and cracked his head on the sidewalk. He was out for most of the day." Ray whispered.

"Is he in there?" I pointed to the door, and all three nodded.

"Can I go in?" All three shoot their heads no. "What? Why?"

"Because Nadia is in there too and it sounded like they were having a full out brawl in there." Allie answered.

"Sounded like? So, they've stopped." I asked.

"Yeah. Everything went quiet a few minutes ago. Jaha walked by a bit ago and said not to go in no matter what." Lucy said.

"Wait a sec- there's movement." Ray shushed us.

I tiptoed over and put my ear to the door as well.

"I won the bet. Now you have to let me come." Wade said softly. "If you don't want anything to do with me afterwards… I'm okay with that. I just don't want you to hurt yourself when I could have stopped it."

"A deal's a deal, Wade." Was all Nadia said, but she didn't sound happy at all.

I heard a click of the door knob and quickly stepped away. The others apparently didn't hear the click, and so were still leaning on the door when Wade opened it. All three fell inside. Wade seemed a bit shocked, but Nadia just seemed even more annoyed.

She walked off without a word, and left us all staring after her. "Okay, what was that all about?" Lucy asked.

"This, kids, is why you don't get on the wrong side of a Russian. They will cut you off and will never willingly accept your help ever again." Wade sighed.

"So this is where you went?" I asked. "All of us were worried when you didn't come home."

"Sorry about that. Some stuff came up and I needed to get some things set straight." He scratched the back of his head.

"So, what happened in there?" I asked hesitantly. Before Nadia walked off, I noticed a small mark under her eye, so I was afraid of his answer.

"I did what I had to do. Nadia's a stubborn person, and sometimes, you need to cater to a stubborn person's dark side. We made a bet, whoever won a little duel would get to do whatever, and I won." He shrugged.

"But you didn't duel with creatures." Ray was clearly annoyed.

"Nope."

"You knocked her out, didn't you?" Allie glared at him.

"Listen, it was either knock her out and do the dangerous thing with her, or let her go and get herself killed alone." Wade's voice turned dark. "She might hate me, but I would never willingly let her die."

Everything went quiet. All four of us looked at the ground, half in shame, half in anger. People shouldn't have to fight and make bets to get what they want, but I guess if it keeps someone safe…

"Oh, I was supposed to tell one of the girls something." Wade said suddenly. "Allie is supposed to meet Maria in the library. I think I heard something about a titan ring too."

"I have a titan ring." Allie stepped forwards and showed him the golden ring on her finger.

Wade pulled a necklace with a similar looking ring out of his shirt and gave her a big smile. "Welcome to the club."

 **Ray's Pov**

With nothing better to do, the three of us followed Allie to the library. We found Maria waiting at one of the front tables and she stood up to greet us.

"Okay, first off, I wanted to see Allie, not the whole crew, and second, I need to take a raincheck on this talk. Something's going down in the Nature civilization and I need to take guard duty for Nigel while Kimora and Wade are away." Maria said.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"No clue. All we know is Wade's ring began to glow and his titan isn't responding to him." She sighed.

"Why did the ring glow?" Allie asked.

"Because if your titan wants to tell you something, it will make the ring glow. Normally, that's all there is to it, but his titan isn't answering his summons, so somethings up."

The four of us shared a look, said goodbye to Maria, and set out to find Master Kimora. We easily found him in his garden talking to Wade and Isao.

"Masters, we want to help." I wasted no time getting to the point.

"Good, because we're gonna need all the help we can get." Master Kimora sighed with relief. "Chavez and Maria need to stay and watch Nigel, and who knows what Jaha and Nadia are up to…"

"Let's not worry about that now. Ahool normally always answers and never calls, so something's seriously wrong." Wade said gravely.

"Okay, then, let's go!" Lucy said, excited to finally get some action.

"I need to stay and watch the stalker spheres. Good luck." Isao said.

Kimora opened a breach and all six of us walked through. Once we were in the nature realm, I summoned Bob, Kimora summoned Shouter, and Wade once again tried to summon his titan, but it failed.

"Mighty Kimora, Shouter needed elsewhere. Duel fast, and send Shouter home." Shouter said in his usual, choppy sentences.

"What's wrong?" Master Kimora asked.

"Titan attack tribes. Says to unite nature, but is tearing apart." Shouter was getting impatient.

"Is it a giant monkey bat?" Wade asked.

"No. The Great Stag." Kimora and Wade gasped at the name and Bob growled.

"The Great Stag once traveled with Colossus before the veil was created." Bob began. "He once sapped so much mana from the monarch that he rendered him immobile. If the Stag is fighting against tribes, then the tribes are doomed."

"Then let's go help out." I said.

All of us held onto shouter as Kimora banished us all to Shouter's home. When we materialized, we were thrown into a warzone. Shouter trumpeted and charged off to fight several other creatures that were apparently with the titan.

"What is up with titans and rebellions?!" Allie cried as she summoned Squeaky. Gabe summoned Gargle and Wade summoned a nature water hybrid called Tigershark which looked exactly what it sounded like. It was grey-blue with orange stripes, and it had a shark body with the legs of a tiger.

"Kids, stick together! I'm going to find Ahool." Wade shouted over the madness. He and Tigershark ran into the thick of the fight, completely disappearing in the mass of creatures.

Bob let out a roar and I jumped on his back. "We should find the Stag. Maybe we can convince him to stop."

Squeaky transformed and Allie hopped onto her back. Gabe climbed on as well, and Kimora joined me on Bob. With a single beat of his wings, Bob took to the skies. Scanning across the battle field, we searched for the titan.

It was fairly easy to find him up there, mostly because he towered over all of the other creatures. I watched in horror as he simply walked across the field, and every enemy creature just dropped around him.

"He's sapping their mana!" Kimora gasped.

Suddenly, we heard the trumpet of Shouter and turned to see him charging at the Stag. Both of us yelled for him to stop, and Bob dived for him, but it was to late.

As soon as Shouter was close enough, he staggered, and fell to the ground. Completely drained of mana.


	11. Chapter 11

I am SUPER sorry for taking so long. Finals hit me harder than normal this year, so I decided to take a break from writing until they were over, and then I just kept getting distracted. So, hopefully, I won't get off track for this long ever again. But for now, on with the story!

* * *

Chapter 11

 **Gabe's Pov**

Squeaky zigzagged through the mass of fighting creatures as she tried her best to keep up with Wade and his creature. Tigershark might be a very thick and muscular creature, but man can it get moving!

"Wade, wait!" I shouted.

"I have to find Ahool before he does something stupid!" I can't believe he actually heard me as far ahead as he is, but he did.

"What do you mean something stupid?" Allie shouted back.

Suddenly, Tigershark halted and turned his head up to the sky. All of us did the same and saw a massive monkey bat slowly circling the battlefield.

"Ahool!" Wade shouted at the creature.

Then I noticed something else in the sky, or rather, someone. Lucy was riding on Broadsword butterfly, who was having a bit of difficulty keeping our slower pace. I could see she was angry at us.

"Do NOT forget about me again." She shouted down.

"Sorry!" Allie and I said at the same time. It's really different having her around. I sometimes forget she is even with us. I guess this is what having a tag along feels like. Now I feel bad for the masters for putting up with us.

All any of us could do was watch as Ahool slowly circled around the area like he was looking for something.

"What's he doing?" Allie asked aloud.

"I think he's looking for something," I answered.

We finally caught up to Wade and saw him take off his necklace and pull the ring through the silver chain, breaking it in half. "I'm going to catch his attention. Stand back."

Wade threw the ring up as far as he could, and then cracked the chain like a whip, sending the quickly expanding ring high up into the sky. High enough to clip Ahool's wing. The titan made an angry face, but when it looked down to see where the ring came from, it changed from anger to a focused stare. It folded in its wings and dived right for us, not opening them again until it was dangerously close to the ground.

"Ahool, what are you doing here?!" Wade asked.

Ahool snarled in response, hopping up and down like an angry chimp.

"I know the Stag is in your territory, but you can't just go and fight him like this. You'll lose!" Wade replied.

We watched in confusion and shock as the two argued back and forth for a bit, Ahool arguing with snarls and hoots, while Wade was now shouting at the titan. After a while, the argument came to a head. Ahool literally screamed at Wade, bearing some massive canines, and Wade stopped for a second.

"You called her?" He asked quietly, and Ahool nodded his head.

"Well, why didn't you say that before?!" Wade shouted. "Come on, we need to help her take down the Stag."

 **Allie's Pov**

All three of us watched as Wade climbed on Ahool's back and take to the skies, leaving us all wondering who is 'her' and wondering what to do now.

"Well… now what?" Lucy asked, jumping off Broadsword.

"I think we should help as well. We can get close to the Stag and try to find any visible weaknesses we can hit." Gabe suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea. When I was chasing you guys down, I looked over and saw that every creature near the Stag was just dropping." Lucy said. "But maybe Gargle can scan him from afar?"

"Okay, I'll summon Draglide so we can get a better vantage point and maybe keep attention from Wade and Ahool." I quickly summoned the dragon as Lucy climbed back onto Broadsword butterfly.

I jumped onto Draglide's back and Gabe climbed on after me.

As we took to the skies, we finally got a good look at the great Stag. He was a massive deer that stood several meters tall. His pelt was a dark brown/ maroon color with white stripes covering his entire body. His antlers branched out in multiple directions and kind of looked like tree branches without leaves.

Around the Stag were several unconscious creatures. He carefully stepped over the creatures and continued to make his way through the battle field. Among the unconscious creatures was Mighty Shouter.

"He got Shouter!" I shouted over the wind.

"How is he taking out so many creatures?!" Lucy cried.

"Be careful guys!" All of us whipped around to see Bob flying over with Ray and master Kimora. "He can completely drain the mana of any creature."

"Does Wade know that?!" Gabe asked, not even trying to mask the worry in his voice.

"More than likely." Master Kimora answered. "The duelists who have titan rings often know more about titans and their powers."

"Wade found Ahool, but I think someone else is coming to help out," Lucy said, quickly filling them in on everything.

"Then we should help too."

Bob began to climb to get a better view of the field.

"Maybe we could distract the Stag until Ahool's friend gets here?" I suggested. "We can fly around out of his drain range and tire him out."

"Gargle, can you give us an estimate of about how far we need to stay away?" Ray called to the Cyber lord still hiding in Gabe's backpack.

He poked his head out and made some weird gargle sounds. "Estimation Complete. One hundred meters is complete safe zone. Fifty is less likely. Thirty is imminent!"

"If fifty is less likely, then we should stay at about seventy." We will be pretty far, but still annoying." Bob growled, eager to begin.

Suddenly, there was a loud screech from above us. All of us looked up to see Ahool and Wade, both screaming their heads off, tearing across the sky towards the Titan.

"Uh oh." All of us said simultaneously.

The stag whipped his head around in surprise, and accidentally smacked Ahool with his antlers, sending the two tumbling out of the sky.

After a few moments of falling, the titan eventually corrected itself and soared back towards the Stag, who still seemed a bit shocked that a bat the size of his head was trying to attack him.

If there was a wall nearby, I'm sure each and every one of us would be banging our heads on it.

"Wade, what are you doing?" Kimora shouted.

"Distracting!" How he heard Kimora was beyond me.

"How can we help?" I shouted back.

"By getting out of the way!" A new voice took us all by surprise.

From the tangle of Nature Civ plants, a great dragon stepped out of the foliage.

"Eternal Gaia Dragon." Kimora breathed. "I never imagined I would see her."

Standing on top of the earth strike dragon's nose was a human.

It was as if she was a woman lost in time. She wore tight rags that only just covered what they needed to. Her blonde curly hair was an untamed mop decorated only with a violet flower. Even though we were far away from her, the atmosphere that she and her dragon brought commanded all attention.

"Great Stag, you have invaded the territory of another titan and are upsetting the peace across the nature civilization. Stop your attack at once." I recognized the voice from before, but was still surprised to see the blunt but powerful voice come from the woman,

"You cannot stop this." The Stag spoke, his voice strong but noticeably softer than the woman's as if he was trying not to upset someone. "I am bringing the change Nature needs."

"By destroying all that Almighty Colossus built?" It was Eternal Gaia's turn to speak. "Leave now, Stag, and do not return."

The titan narrowed his eyes dangerously but didn't make a move. After a few tense moments passed, the Stag flattened his ears and backed off. "Come, there is nothing to do here. The one we seek is gone."

And at that, the Stag simply walked away from the field. Once the initial shock wore off, his followers left as well.

Eternal Gaia made her way to the battlefield and lowered her head, letting her human companion down. We quickly descended and headed towards the woman.

Now we got a closer look at the woman, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had seen her once before. She had tan skin and familiar brown eyes. Even though it was obvious she didn't wash regularly, she had a strange beauty to her. As I struggled to put a finger on it, Master Kimora ran up to her and gave her a big hug.

"Celeste, you're alive!" Kimora cried with happiness.

"Yeah, but you're gonna be the thing to kill me if you don't put me down." She laughed.

He let her go but refused to move his hand from her shoulder.

"I can't believe you're okay… With what Mai told us, we all thought you died." He whispered.

"She did what I asked her to do, and I hope you'll do the same." Her voice hardened.

Master Kimora took a moment, and then it was his turn to speak sternly. "No. I will not lie to the others. Do you have any idea how much we miss you? How much Hector misses you?"

She flinched. "He's at the temple?"

"He's the fire master. Your little brother is a Master." Kimora replied.

"Brother?!" All of us gasped.

 **Ray's Pov**

"Yo, Cele, What's up?" With the new girl, none of us noticed Wade come up behind us.

He moved around all of us and hugged Celeste.

"Wait, wait, wait, so Master C has a sister?" I asked.

"Is it really so weird for the masters to have siblings?" Celeste asked. "Seriously, I bet one of you has a sibling, so why can't the masters?"

"It's just… weird." Allie began. "We never see them out and around, so…"

"So you assume they don't have family or friends nearby, right?" She sighed. "Well, just remember that the Masters are people too. With their own lives, hobbies, and jobs. Okay?"

"Okay." All of us said simultaneously.

She nodded, satisfied, and headed towards the drained creatures that were being treated by the relatively fit ones. I honestly doubt anyone came out of this fight unscathed. Except for the Stag.

She stopped when she reached the closest drained creature and knelt down beside it. She lightly touched the creature's forehead and closed her eyes. Suddenly, her tan skin was covered in black tattoos which slowly began to turn green as she channeled mana into the creature.

"You're a guard?" Master Kimora asked, a bit surprised.

"A sage, to be precise. Now stop staring and help the other creatures." She ordered.

Guard? Like the people in the book. She has to know more about them.

As the others hurried off to help other creatures, I knelt down by Celeste and watched her heal the creature.

"I'm not healing him, you know." The softness of her voice surprised me. "I'm simply giving him some of my mana until he can replenish his own."

"Oh." Was all I could say.

"It's incredible how mana works. Even though I live here, I still can't really figure it out." She sighed.

"You live on this side of the veil?"

"Yes. It isn't as bad as you think. It like camping, but all the time."

"But what about creatures?"

"Let me guess, you don't know anything about the guard and sages, do you?" I was now very aware that she was watching me.

"Can you tell me about them?" I asked.

"Not me. I'm not the teaching type, even if it's just explaining something. But I know someone who will. Do you have something to write on?" I pulled my sketchbook out of my jacket and handed it to her. "Never thought of carrying a sketchbook like that before."

She wrote down a name and an address, and then she did something strange. She drew a pair of the most intense eyes I've seen.

"Head to this address and tell the guy outside that "Celeste sent me here for Mai" and go wait in the back alley for her. You will recognize her instantly." She said as she handed the sketchbook back.

"Thanks." I felt a bit stupid for not thinking of something else to say.

"Now, get to work on the creatures." I nodded and stood up to search for an injured creature


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 **Allie's Pov**

Never have I ever wanted to summon a creature so badly before I met Kura. There is so much I want to ask him about the kitsune and about why the marks will never come off. Since I live in a pretty secluded area and the cliff nearby will hide him no problem, I've been wanting to summon him. But I have no idea how to.

I remembered how Nadia threw her titan ring to the ground and how it expanded to a size that was as big as Dilporo, but when I tried that, I nearly lost the golden ring in the sand. It's a good thing Maria promised to teach me how to use the ring today.

Even though it was a weekend, Gabe and I decided to go to the temple. I feel bad for Gabe. He really doesn't believe he's a good duelist, but he's probably better than I am when it comes to summoning and keeping his creature on the field for more than thirty seconds.

I invited Ray to come and join us as well, but he apparently has some plans with Raven today. _Fun._ I don't know why he hasn't realized yet. Is he just that dense? Or does he not…

"No! He's just stupid. He'll realize sooner or later." Even saying it out loud didn't help my doubts.

 _What if he doesn't feel the same?_

I shook my head hard and gathered my things. Taking one last look in the mirror, I now noticed a small black star near the corner of my eye. _How on earth am I going to hide that?_

Mentally making a note to grab some new makeup on my home, I headed out.

I have never seen the Masters look so uncomfortable in my life. As soon as I walked through the doors of the dojo, Master Kimora nodded a quick greeting and whispered, "avoid Chavez" in my ear.

Even the students at the temple seemed thrown off by something. Assuming Gabe was already here, I quickly headed to the temple before the weirdness got to me. I regret that decision. The level of awkwardness was crazy high in the library. It took me all of two seconds to find Maria, Wade and Gabe sitting at one of the tables nearby.

"Okay, what in the world happened here?" I whispered. Afraid for whatever reason to be heard by someone else.

"Oh, it's nothing really. My sister just told the other masters that she is going to go and possibly kill herself to fix the ley lines and Chavez is mad that only one person can go with her and that person is Wade and Nadia doesn't even want to go with him either." Maria gushed.

"What?" I asked.

"The masters, especially Nadia, are wracking their brains on how to fix the ley lines, but there is no reason for them to not work. Maria found a scroll telling of an old water creature that might know how to fix the problem because it was alive when the ley lines were discovered." Wade explained.

"And how will asking an old as dirt creature going to get Nadia killed?" Now I was really confused.

Maria let out a big sigh, "Because the creature has been hibernating for centuries and there is only one way to wake it up."

After waiting a few moments for her to continue, I pressed them. "And that way is?"

"Mana walking." Wade and Maria said at the same time.

"What's that?" I looked to Gabe, hoping he would answer my questions better than these two.

"It's apparently a guard technique." Gabe began. "Someone can make a bridge of mana that their consciousness can exist on outside of their bodies."

"That's so awesome! What's the problem with it?"

Wade lowered his head. "Here, let me show you." He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen from his pocket. He drew an x and a circle, and then a line that connected the circle and x.

"The x is you, the circle is what you want your consciousness to go to." He explained. "once your consciousness is out of your body, you need to get whatever you're doing done before your mana burns out."

He suddenly ripped the paper in half. One half with the x, and the other with the circle. "If you don't, your consciousness could get stranded outside of your body. When that mana runs out entirely, your consciousness will disappear, and you will die."

"What? Why would she even try something like that?" I gasped.

"Because that's what a master does." Maria spat. "She makes sacrifices for the order. It's what she _has_ to do."

She stood up and walked past me. "Come on, it's time you learned to use that ring."

"Wait, I have another question." I looked at Wade. "Why are you going if she doesn't want you to go?"

"Because I can help her if something goes wrong." He said grimly. Suddenly, he laughed. "It's so stupid, you know? I'm on the frontlines of life and death in the ER, but this is the scariest case I will probably ever have."

"Why are all of you so certain that she will fail? And why are you the only one?" Gabe finally spoke up after being so quiet.

"Because no one has ever succeeded," Wade replied.

 **Gabe's Pov**

I can't believe I waited this long to say something. I feel comfortable around Master Nadia. I normally hang out in the library, so we're around each other a lot. But why I find it so hard to ask her for help is beyond me.

I thought about asking Wade. He seems to be a strong duelist and I know him better. But we are completely different. He is super outgoing and aggressive in dueling, and that's not how I want to duel. Nadia, on the other hand, is very decisive and precise with dueling. She doesn't charge in full force like Ray and Allie.

 _Ray and Allie._ That's it. I love my friends, but I don't want to duel like them. I can't be as good as them dueling like that. I don't necessarily want to duel better than them, but I want to be noticed alongside them. Not be reprimanded for not trying to stop them.

Gathering up some courage, I made my way to Nadia's lab. She held herself up in there ever since she announced her plans to fix the ley lines. Probably hiding from Chavez and her sister. Maria has been fuming all morning and she only calmed down when Wade took her aside for a moment.

There was obviously something between the three of them. Wade, Maria, and Nadia. Something that none of them would say out loud. I wonder if it has something to do with what Wade and my mom spoke about a while ago. I might ask Nadia about it later… If she lives long enough for me to gather courage again.

"Master Nadia?" I called through the door.

The door opened, and Nadia was there. "Gabriel, is something wrong?"

"No!" I said quickly. "I just wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?" I could see how tired she was. I didn't have to ask Wade how badly the other masters took this. Now I didn't need to ask how hard they tried to convince her to not do it.

"I was wondering- I mean, I was kind of thinking that… Well…" I stumbled.

"Gabriel," Her sharp words snapped me out of it. "Take a breath."

"Right, sorry." I scratched the back of my head. Taking a breath, I gathered my thoughts. " I was wondering if you could tutor me in dueling."

Wow was that not as hard as I thought it would be.

She seemed a bit startled. "Why do you need tutoring?"

"Because I'm really not a good dueler. I'm always left behind the others and I just want to be better and more helpful." I explained.

"But you are a fine duelist for your age."

"Not around my friends," I mumbled.

She sighed and beckoned me to follow her into the lab. She pulled up a chair and motions for me to sit. She then sits across from me. "Let me guess. You feel left behind."

"Yeah!" I never thought I would admit it out loud. "They're always ahead, and I just seem to get left behind."

"I hope you don't want to cause as much trouble as the two of them." I was taken back by the joke.

"No! I just want to be as strong as them. Then I might get them out of trouble every once in a while."

She thought for a moment, and then let out a sigh. "I will help you under one condition."

"Yeah?" I unconsciously leaned in.

"You will only use the creature _Switch Scale Dragon._ "

 **Ray's Pov**

I was super excited to hang out with Raven today. Since her school runs longer than mine and is heavily involved in the art club at her school, we haven't found the time to hang out during the week. Every time we do find some time, something creature related comes up and I have to take a raincheck.

I feel really bad for blowing her off, so today, I'm going to make it up to her.

We had planned to meet up at the park and go from there, so I was surprised to get a call from her.

"Raven?"

"Hi, is this Ray?" The voice that answered me was definitely not Raven.

"Yeah… Who is this?"

"I'm Orion, Raven's brother. She asked me to tell you that she needs a raincheck today. She told you about her eye right?"

"Yeah…" Now I was getting a bit worried.

"Well, it got really bad last night and her surgery was moved from next Friday to today. She feels really bad about it and just wanted me to let you know." He explained.

"Is she okay?" I asked, now really worried.

"Yeah, the infection just made her super sick all of the sudden. This is kind of the routine with her. Her eye gets infected, she gets sick, she gets surgery, and then everything's fine for a month or so. Don't worry, she'll be fine. I'm sure she will text you as soon as she's up and running again."

"Okay, thanks." I couldn't think of anything else to say.

He hung up quickly and I was left there, standing on the sidewalk, completely dumbfounded.

After a few moments, I decided to go to the park anyways. I was in no mood to hang out at the temple, or with Gabe and Allie for that matter. I didn't want to go home and be questioned by my family. The only thing I could think of doing at the moment was just sitting and thinking.

When I got to the park, I sat down under one of the big trees and did nothing. Absolutely nothing. When I don't know what to do, I normally try and draw something, but I didn't feel in the mood to do that either. So I settled on looking through my sketch book.

As I flipped through the many drawings of my small book, I paused for a moment. I had my sketchbook memorized by now. I knew what was drawn where, and which drawings were close to each other. So I immediately recognized that I was one page away from Raven's eyepatch.

After a few seconds ticked by, I skipped over it and a few other drawings. Not at all willing to see something that was a part of her and face the tightness in my chest.

I reached the last sketch of mine when I remembered something. Flipping to the very end of my sketchbook, I found the name and address Celeste Chavez wrote down for me.

"Wait a sec… I know where this is." The address written was for an infamous gentleman's club not too far from the park.

 _Why on earth would a Kaijudo Guard work at a place like that?_ The only reason I knew what the place was at all was because some kid at the school bragged that her father owned the place.

"Kadaver's Getaway, shouldn't be too hard to find with a name like that," I said, pushing myself to my feet.

If I couldn't hang out with Raven today, I might as well find this Mai person. _I wonder if it's the same Mai from that book of names. But I doubt Master Kimora's mother. I just can't see him coming from that kind of a family._

I was right about how easy it was to find. I would have to be blind to miss the huge neon sign with the name of the club in bright Pink. Remembering what Celeste told me, I walked up to one of the big guys standing at the door.

"This isn't a place for kids, kid, now scram." The guy said, gruffly.

"Celeste sent me here for Mai," I repeated the woman's words.

The two men exchanged a glance, and one of them disappeared through the tinted doors.

"Go wait in the alleyway," The other said suddenly. "She'll come out the back to meet you,"

I nodded without a word and headed around the building. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar face. Carny. I tried to get out of sight without him noticing, but I think he saw me. I quickly walked down the alley and found a door.

Assuming that this would be the door that Mai would come out of, I waited, resting against the wall across from the door.

"Whatcha ya doing outside of a club, mutt?" I groaned at the sound of Carny's voice.

"It's really none of your business." I snapped. Surprising myself at how little patience I had for him.

"Trying to have some fun, huh? Didn't think you would ever do something like that, especially with an actual stripper." He taunted. "Can't wait to tell everyone at school that the mutt needs to pay to get some."

"You know, maybe I'm not here for that?" I glared at him. I was too angry to even be embarrassed.

"Oh, really, punk?" I guess he was as low on patience as I am because he immediately got in my face.

"Really."

He pushed me and I pushed back without thinking. That was a mistake. He pushed me back again and sucker punched me in the jaw. I kicked his leg out from under him and he fell flat on his back. Rolling on my side, I jumped to my feet and took up a defensive pose. Carny stood up and started to charge me.

"What the hell is going on out here?!" Someone shouted.

Carny froze in his tracks and we whipped around to see a woman standing in front of the door. Her eyes bore into me and into Carny. Whether he was a tough guy or not, neither of us dared to move under her glare.

"Maybe you two didn't hear me. What the hell is going on?" She said evenly. Slowly, she stalked up to us.

"He attacked me!" Carny said suddenly.

"What? You followed me here to fight!" I cried, angry that he said something before I did.

"Yeah right!" Carny spat, turning to the woman. "Please, I was just walking down the road when he shoved me into the alley."

"Oh really? Are you sure that's what happened?" The woman asked.

"Yes!" He replied.

"Liar."

The single word seemed to knock the wind out of him. He stared at her questioningly. Not sure whether to get angry or try appealing to her again.

"But-"

"No buts, brat. This boy asked for me before he headed into the alley. Also, you aren't the one with a bloody nose." She cut him off. "Now scram."

He didn't say anything. He just turned and stalked off. I guess he wasn't leaving fast enough for her, the woman broke out into a run. At the sound of fast footsteps, Carny turned, saw the woman coming for him, and sprinted away.

She stopped, laughing. "Run, kid, run!"

She turned back to me, and without the glare, her face seemed completely different. And her eyes… familiar.

"So, Celeste sent you? Can I ask why?" She asked.

"She told me that you could tell me about the Kaijudo Guard. You're Mai, right" I replied. Suddenly very aware of who was standing in front of me.

"Yes, I can." She said. "But can you handle the truth?"

* * *

So many cliffhangers! So sorry I haven't been consistent with updating any of my stories lately. I've been busy with some stuff and find it hard to really get into writing now and again.

Now I know the story is a bit slow at the moment, but for the sake of research and curiosity, I want to know which new character is your guy's favorite and what you think of each kid's problem along with the major conflict as a whole. I would love to hear what your thoughts are and use that info to make this story the best it can be and maybe delve a little more into the backgrounds of your favorites.

I shall get the next chapter started as soon as I can, but there will be no promises as to when it will come out.

Thanks a ton!

-Echo


	13. Chapter 13

Thanks for the feedback Primadonabloodbath! Wade's roll really steps up in the next few chapters.

I know I'm really sucky at having a bit of a dialogue with you guys about the story, but I'm going to try and get better at responding to comments.

So, to make up for the past…

Sami - Ruby is not related to Okami and Bob and Okami will meet later on.

Queenoneil- Wade will be getting a lot more time to shine and Maria will too. Actually, Maria kind of steals the show in the next chapter (in my opinion).

I swear I will get better with this. I SWEAR IT.

Well, enjoy the next chapter!

* * *

Chapter 13

 **Ray's Pov**

Mai's home was small, but comfortable. She offered to take care of my bloody nose and black eye at her home before she told me about the guard, and my face was so numb that I accepted.

"That kid has quite a punch, huh?" She offered me an icepack.

"Yeah. I wasn't expecting it." I took it and carefully touched it to my skin, flinching at the cold.

"I was expecting a bit more from you, Raiden. Especially as an Adept in Kaijudo." She actually looked a bit disappointed.

"How do you know that?" I watched as she walked back into the kitchen.

"Every duelist in San Campion knows about you. You might not see us at the temple, but we do drop by every once in a while."

"How many other duelists are in San Campion?" I have never seen any other adult duelists at the temple other than the masters, my dad, and Toji.

"Four now that Wade's back. There used to be almost twenty, but most either moved away or are not with us anymore."

"Does it have to do with the guard?" I asked cautiously. I attempted to talk about it several times on our way here, but she refused to say anything until we reached her home.

"…Yes." She returned from the kitchen and handed me a towel for my nose. She sat down in the chair next to me. "Are you sure you want to know what happened to the guard?"

I nodded my head. "I'm sure."

"Well, the Choten happened." She began. "The Guard operated separately from the temple. Sure we would work together to defend the veil, but we had our own leader, our own code, and even our own temple. We were strong and proud, but unaware of the dangers of having such a group. When the Choten rose in power and broke away from the Masters, almost half of the guard left with him."

She paused. Her intense eyes now soft with sadness. I suddenly felt bad for asking. Whatever happened was obviously bad, and I was just digging up memories.

"You don't have to tell me." I said quickly, before she could begin again. "I think I understand."

Her face was unreadable, but her eyes thanked me. It was only then that I realized how old she must be. She was a very beautiful woman. Soft features, almond brown irises, and flawless skin. But her age shone in her eyes. As sharp as they could be, they were tired and sad when unfocused.

"So, what did you guys do in the guard?"

"We trained." She said simply.

"For what?" I was once again intrigued.

"To master a weapon and learn the power of the civilizations."

"The power of the civilizations?" I repeated.

"It's difficult to explain. Just think of it as learning spells that are tuned to a specific civilization." Mai stood up and headed into a back room. She returned a moment later with two gauntlets. They weren't like the black gauntlets we wore that just covered the hand. These were red and bronze, they actually had fingers, and they covered the arms up to the elbows. "These are my weapons. You learn to master a specific type or class of weapons from the start. The type of weapon you get is normally linked to the civilization you naturally favor. Mine is Fire, so I had a choice of gauntlets, swords, hammers, and a few other weapon classes."

"…They just look like gloves." I stared at the fabric she held before me.

"That's because I haven't activated them. The weapons are like gauntlets in the sense that you use your mana to activate them." Mai put the gloves bedside her.

A few seconds ticked by before I realized she wasn't going to show me them activated. "What do they look like activated?"

"I could show you, but I would have to ask something of you." We locked eyes.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Would you like to become a Guard of Kaijudo?"

 **Allie's Pov**

My arm was wracked after training with Maria. When I tried summoning Kura by copying Nadia, I wasn't far off from the real technique. I just didn't know how to focus mana into the ring and get it to spin. It was easy enough once I knew what to do, but Maria wanted it to be _perfect_.

"How was that?" I asked as my ring rolled back to me from the last throw.

Maria didn't say anything for a moment. "Good enough. A titan ring is a powerful tool. It can be used for more than summoning titans, but that will be enough for today."

"What else can it be used for?"

"Well," Maria began. "It can be used to pull titans across the veil, you can store mana in it in case you run out, and can even be used as a weapon. It's pretty versatile for a simple gold band. Also…" Maria pulled off the necklace that the ring hung off. She pulled at the silver chain and it easily broke apart. "Hand me your ring." I gave her the small ring and she strung it on the silver chain. Then, she placed the two ends of the chain together and it easily re-attached. "Take your ring and pull. Lightly."

I did as she said and she grabbed her ring. We began to pull and I watched as the chain lengthened and divided in two. "Woah..." I breathed, gathering the part of the chain still around my ring in my other hand.

"It's made of silver water." Maria explained. "It softens and can expand when it is infused with mana. It's the perfect metal to carry titan rings. You can wear it around your neck and pull off the ring easily if you need to."

"If you can do that, why does Nadia keep it in her pocket?" I asked. Remembering how the water master had retrieved her ring from her jacket pocket.

"Because her titan isn't exactly one you summon on a thought. Wade and I keep ours under our shirts to hide them and keep an element of surprise if we do need our titans. Even under our shirts it takes half a second to summon a creature."

I pulled the chain over my head and Maria stepped forwards. She grabbed my ring and yanked it up, trying to pull it over my head. The chain snapped taunt and refused to go above my nose.

"Also, the chain will keep the ring safe. Now that you've worn it, it is tuned to your mana alone. No one else can pull the ring from its chain or take it off your neck." She dropped the ring and it fell softly against my chest.

"Thank you, Maria."

"No problem. Remember that Wade and Nadia have titan rings too so any of us can help if you have a problem or question about it." She smiled.

I headed out of the arena, leaving Maria to do whatever she needed too, when I heard someone call my name. I turned to see Gabe running for me, being closely followed by a dragon creature.

It had a narrow head and a long, elegant, body and limbs. It's scales were red and tipped with gold, and it had green claws and horns. Its eyes were golden and intensely staring at me, as if it was a hunter staring at its prey. It was just slightly taller than Gabe, but it still seemed like a creature you wouldn't want to mess with.

"Uhh, Gabe… Who's your friend?" I asked, intimidated by the dragon.

"Oh, this is Switch Scale Dragon. I finally asked Nadia to mentor me and she said I'm only allowed to use this creature." Gabe explained. "I found his tablet and decided to summon him to get to know him, but…"

Gabe trailed off as the dragon flopped onto the ground, letting out a massive yawn, and closed his eyes.

"… but he's being difficult." I finished. "I'm assuming that he's from the fire civilization?"

"Yeah. I don't know why she had me summon him. I'm not the best with fire creatures." He sighed.

"Ray and I'll help you out. He can't be that difficult to work with." I crouched next to the creature, raising my hand to touch him. The dragon snapped up and snarled at me. I jumped away, stumbling. Gabe reached out and steadied me.

"Sorry! He won't let me or anyone else near him. And he doesn't listen to me. It's a miracle that he followed me here. I thought he was just going to continue napping in the library."

"Maybe this is a test or something?" I thought aloud. Gabe gave me a weird look. "Maybe she's trying to see how you handle the situation?"

"Well, she's not going to be around to see me handle him." Gabe looked down.

"Why?"

"Nadia will be preparing to wake up the creature from home. Wade will be temporarily taking her place as Duel Master until all of this is over." He explained.

"Wade? I thought she hated him." I said, remembering the last time those two were alone in a room together.

"Well, they didn't have much of a choice. No ley lines means they can't just bring in a water specialist in from anywhere." I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off. "And Wade's older and more experienced than I am, if you're thinking that I could have taken her place."

"Well, we had the ley lines before and you still got to be temporary duel master." I reminded him.

"Because of my relation- err, friendship with Sasha." Gabe gave a nervous cough.

"Also, Wade is needed to be the fill in because it wouldn't look the best to the light civilization if a child was a duel master." A stern voice said.

Even Switchscale jumped as Isao walked up to us with Jaha.

"You're going to the light civilization?" Gabe asked.

"Master Kimora, Wade, and I are." Isao began. "We going to ask the light council if they will give the Choten to us."

A few seconds of silence ticked by. "Wait, they have the Choten?! When did that happen?!"

"When he banished himself with Takahashi." Jaha explained. "We kept this quiet to not upset anyone who would be… sensitive… to this information.

I opened my mouth, but then closed it again. Ray was furious when the Choten got away, and rightfully so. After learning that the Choten was using his father's memories as leverage against him and then turning him into a half human half creature hybrid, even I have no clue what Ray, or even Mr. Okamoto, would do.

"So, when are we leaving?" I asked.

"The hearing is tomorrow." Jaha answered. "And, since we can't seem to keep you three from tagging along, Maria will be coming as well to chaperone."

"Really, Jaha? A chaperone? We're almost sixteen!" I cried out.

"Which is even more concerning since none of your antics have changed in two years." Jaha shot me a look.

"Fine…" I grumbled.

Gabe and I were silent as they walked away.

"Hey, Maria isn't too bad. She's really nice and funny." Gabe offered.

"I guess… Fine, I'll tell Ray." Pulling my phone out of my bag, I called him. It rang three times, and then went to voicemail.

"No answer? Maybe he's still with Raven." Gabe guessed.

My throat tightened and I felt some anger rise in my chest. "Well, it's getting late. I'm going home. I'll see you tomorrow."


	14. Chapter 14

White Hunter- Thanks so much! There's definitely more planned in this and I will post whenever I can.

Since it's been so long, I've made this chapter longer than normal. Hope you like it!

Warning: Things get bloody at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 14

Ray's POV

"I wish I was dead." I groaned into my pillow as the alarm on my clock went off. I felt Okami's wet tongue against the side of my face and roughly pushed her away, quietly pleading for just five more minutes. Accepting Mai's offer to become a Guard might just be the worst decision I have ever made in my life.

The moment I said yes, she pulled me off the couch and set me to work. Her home might not be that big and fancy, but the freaking five star gym in her basement screamed otherwise. By the time I had to go home, my entire body felt numb.

Also, just as I was leaving, she warned against mentioning her to the masters. She said something to the effect of "I'll have to leave town if you say anything". That gave me a weird feeling, but I brushed it off. Jaha and Isao had a thing against each other before, so she probably has some problem with a master or vice versa. It really isn't my business.

Because of Mai, I won't be able to go to practice as often as I do. I don't entirely like that, but I want to learn more about the guard. Then again, kaijudo stuff is kaijudo stuff, so I don't think I'll miss much. Also, I found out that Mai is an amazing artist and is willing to also give me advice in that field as well. That also gave us a cover. When I got home, I told my parents that I met someone who will help me become a better artist.

Instead of sitting up, I just rolled out of bed. With my sore everything, it was just easier to do. Since Raven was still at the hospital, I took my time getting ready and headed to school. Allie, Gabe, and Lucy all thought I was sick, so they didn't question me when I didn't head to the dojo with them.

"Becoming a Guard member is a lifelong commitment." Mai told me. "For the first few weeks, I am going to push you hard to see both how far you can go and how your body deals with the intense regiments."

Which is why instead of going home after school and resting, I am going back to Mai's home to train.

…This is going to be great.

Gabe's Pov

The masters told us that they would be heading to the light civilization early this morning, and that Maria would bring us after school. Apparently, the masters were also attending another meeting to discuss the rebellions in the water, fire, and nature civilizations.

Maria met us outside the dojo.

"Ray isn't here again?" She asked.

"Nope. He really didn't look good today, so he went home." Allie explained.

"Ah, well, let's get going." We headed off towards the back of the dojo.

"Isn't anyone going to stay behind and watch Nigel?" I asked.

"He isn't a problem anymore." Maria said simply.

"…What do you mean?" I asked.

"The masters wiped his mind last night." She smiled. "Now, I won't have to sit outside of a room for days on end anymore!"

"Wait, how much of his memory did you have to take?!" Nigel was a duel master, and after witnessing the mess of choosing a new master first hand, I know a master must have some serious background in kaijudo. For Nigel, he was probably involved in kaijudo for decades. I don't like him as much as the next guy, but that's an awful lot of memories to take from someone.

"Enough for him to not be a problem anymore, and that's all you two need to know." Allie and I exchanged a glance, and decided not to ask.

Once we were hidden by some trees and shrubbery, Maria pulled her necklace from under her shirt and turned to Allie. "Another thing titan rings can do, is form a portal to the kaijudo realm." She explained.

Instead of throwing the ring at the ground like Master Nadia did, she tossed it up in the air. The ring bounced off of the ground and almost instantly expanded to just above Maria's height.

"Come on. The portal doesn't last forever." She called as she stepped through the breach in the middle of the ring.

After exchanging a glance with Allie, we walked through the ring. On the other side of the veil I was surprised to see a group of light civilization creatures waiting for us in the middle of the nature realm.

"So, we get our own personal escort?" Allie asked.

Ever since the veil nearly broke down, for the second time, the masters have been more invested with the creature realm. Before, we would simply cross the veil and summon a creature to take us where we want to go, but now that we have better relations with creatures and their royalty, I guess we get the VIP treatment.

One of the light soldiers directed us to a floating platform and helped us onto it, even offering his hand to Allie and me. Maria had already jumped aboard before the guard could offer.

It didn't take long to reach the light civilization this way, but it felt a lot longer since none of the light creatures spoke. That uncomfortable silence seemed to last forever. Not for Maria, though. She pulled some earbuds out of her jacket, popped them in her ears, and began to tap to the beat of the song.

Once we finally arrived, it was obvious something was amiss. Hundreds of light creatures hovered around the main light keep, and our escort had to forcefully push through the crowd. I've been around plenty of light creatures before, but I've never seen any of them do anything like this.

"What's going on?" Allie asked one of the guards as we landed on the keep.

"There is nothing to be concerned about," A familiar voice answered. "My subjects are just warry about the duel master's presence."

I jumped off the platform and gave Sasha a big hug. It's been a while since I've seen her. Something's been up in the light council so we haven't hung out in almost two months.

"Princess Sasha, why aren't you with the masters and the council?" Maria asked.

"Tensions began to run high between some of the creatures, so I called for a pause in the proceedings." Sasha explained. "Once the pause is over, we shall discuss what is to be done with the Choten."

"Can you lead us to the masters?" Allie asked.

"Of course. This way." We followed Sasha into the keep and down the golden halls. I will always be amazed by how beautiful the keep is. The glowing golden walls, the perfectly parallel columns and patterns. It takes my breath away even thinking about this place.

We were lead into a room where all five masters were speaking with two creatures. One looked very similar to Sasha and the other was a massive white wolf.

"Gabriel, I would like to introduce you to my brother, Angel boy, and his comrade Beowolf." Sasha gestured to the angel command creature.

Angel boy turned and faced me but Beowolf simply flicked an ear. "It's nice to meet you." I offered my hand.

Angel boy cocked his head, confused by the gesture, but offered his hand anyways. "The pleasure is mine. My sister speaks highly of you and your friends, and often recounts your heroism."

"Oh, thank you, Angel boy." I suddenly felt everyone's eyes on me. "But my friend Ray was really the true hero.

"Please, call me Angel. Even the smallest gear plays a role in making a machine work." He smiled.

Angel was unlike any light creature I've ever met. He is very open and unofficial when speaking to others, and he actually shows emotions. I've never met a light creature that just does that right off the bat. He was just slightly shorter than Sasha.

Beowolf was obviously not a pure light creature. He looked more like a nature creature than anything. Actually, he reminds me a lot of Okami, but much bigger… Maybe he's part spirit wolf like she is? But he also doesn't act like a nature creature. If anything, he has the attitude of a light creature. Standoffish and focused. He had to be at least seven feet tall.

"So, what did we miss?" Allie asked Jaha.

"Unfortunately, the situation here is worse than we thought. While it isn't a rebellion, there is a movement in light as well that is causing a bit of unrest. Actually, Angel boy and Beowolf are its leaders. We have been discussing ideas on how to deescalate the rebellions in fire, nature, and water."

"If I may ask," Maria jumped in. "Why is there a movement in light? I can see one happening in fire because all of the creatures there are crazy, and most water and nature creatures are pretty stuck up and stubborn to there is little surprise there as well. But why light?"

"Because logic rules us entirely." Angel answered. "For example, Beowolf was evolved and driven mad when the Choten let loose his evolution serum bomb. I wanted to help my dear and loyal friend, but it was illogical to put other creatures in danger to save one titan. There are many more examples of acts like this, and I cannot tolerate it anymore." Angel placed a hand on Beowolf's neck.

"Beowolf's a titan too?" Allie asked. Angel nodded.

There is no way this can be just a coincidence now. It was suspicious before knowing the other civilization rebellions were led by titans, but four out of four is ridiculous.

"We cannot interfere with your dealings, but all we ask is that you stay mindful of the fact that our worlds are intertwined." Kimora began. "The unrest of the other civilizations is causing widespread damage across our world, and we can't save everyone from it."

"We shall remember." Angel promised.

"I believe we will be able to resume the meeting now," Sasha began. "Brother, this part of the meeting is for the fate of the Choten. You do not have to participate."

"You may be several centuries my elder, but I am still no child. I will come." Beowolf nudged Angel's shoulder. "We will come."

We were lead into the council chambers single file, and since Allie, Maria, and I weren't masters, we had to stand in the back of the room while the proceedings took place.

Once the council members and the masters took their seats, Sasha stood and called for the Choten.

A doorway right across from us opened, and in walked the Choten followed closely by a dangerous looking creature.

"Is that a freaking Sphinx?!" Allie whispered. All I could do was nod. She was a Greek Sphinx with black hair, golden fur and wings, and sharp features. Black armor covered her chest and belly. She stood tall and proud, never taking her eyes off the Choten.

"What is the creature that walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?" the Sphinx asked, her voice was low and raspy.

"A human." Sasha answered.

The Sphinx nodded in approval and stepped away from the Choten, leaving him alone in the center of the room. The Choten seemed like a shadow of himself. He was gaunt and tired looking, and had grown a scraggly beard in his time locked away here. He looked up and made eye contact with Wade.

"Wade, my boy." He gave a weak smile. His voice was as smooth as ever. "Finally returned home from your little romp with disaster?"

"At least my romp didn't leave me looking like you." Wade glared at him.

"What an idiot. The masters are the only think keeping him from being executed right now." Maria scoffed.

"Finally a master, now? I can only imagine what you've done to my dear Nadia." He continued.

Master Chavez opened his mouth to answer, but Wade beat him to it. "She's no longer with us."

The masters gave him an odd look. Before she left, Nadia explained that she would be gathering as much mana as her body could hold to mana walk, which would leave her in a very weak and vulnerable state. It's why only the masters, Wade and Maria know where she is right now. But the Choten is locked up. He doesn't exactly have a reason to lie like that now.

"I see." He said simply.

"Hush now," The Sphinx suddenly spoke up. "What did I tell you about talking?" She bared her teeth dangerously.

That shut him up.

Just as the doors they came through were closing, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. A shadow moved across the wall unnaturally and seemed to hover in the corner. Looking around to see if anyone else saw it, I noticed Beowolf had his eyes trained on the shadow as well.

As the proceedings began, I found myself unable to focus while watching the shadow. I softly elbowed Allie.

"What?" She whispered, still glaring at the Choten.

I elbowed her again so she would look at me and pointed at the shadow. She saw it and I could see the concern etched on her face.

"How much trouble would we get in if we snuck over there?" Allie asked.

"A lot. But if there's something actually there, then we'll probably be fine." I replied.

"Okay then, let's go." She quietly began to side step her way to the shadow, and I followed. I know it's probably nothing, but I just can't shake this feeling in the back of my head.

Surprisingly, no one but Beowolf saw us move. The masters and light creatures were now in a heated debate as to what to do with the Choten, and Maria had her earbuds in again. While we worked our way across the room, I noticed that the shadow began to flatten out. It was almost as if one side was invisible and the other wasn't.

Allie was ahead of me by quite a bit, so I couldn't see what made her freeze. I stopped as well, but once she began to reach for her gauntlet, I rushed forwards, grabbing mine as well. Apparently, the shadow was some kind of darkness creature that could make its top shell invisible. On the other side of the shell, Tierra stood, looking absolutely furious.

"You just had to ruin everything, didn't you?" She shouted, no longer trying to hide. Jumping forwards, she performed the fire Kata and summoned Meteor dragon.

The room erupted into chaos. Beowolf was the first one to move, springing forwards at the fire creature. The Sphinx lunged forwards and stood over the Choten.

The ceiling began to move as well, revealing at least fifteen of the Choten's goons waiting with gauntlets ready.

"Great Sphinx Alexandria, remove the Choten from the room! Guard him with your life!" Sasha commanded.

The Sphinx nodded and grabbed the Choten with her jaws. With a single beat of her powerful wings, the Sphinx crashed through the golden doors and fled.

By this time, the Masters had already summoned their creatures, and Maria was already on Dragon mare's back.

"Maria, Gabe, Allie, help the Sphinx!" Master Isao shouted.

I was a bit shocked that he asked us to go after them, but then again, we were the closest ones to a door, and the masters were trapped at the center of the room.

" _Switch scale dragon!"_

" _Scaradorable of Gloom hollow!"_

Squeaky swapped forms and Allie and I jumped on her back. Surprisingly, Switchscale was ready to go and easily followed us through the halls after the Sphinx.

The Sphinx was a fairly big creature, standing just over five feet tall at the shoulder and was also very muscular, so it was surprising how fast she was.

She rounded a corner ahead of us and we could hear her claws skid to a stop. When we rounded the corner, Alexander Carnihan stood in our way with Bronze arm Sabertooth and several other goons.

"Switchscale, attack!" I commanded.

The dragon flew at the man, but his creature got in the way. Allie and I jumped off of Squeaky, and the chimera chased after Switchtale, helping him fight the beastkin.

The Sphinx, on the other hand, stood still as stone. Finally, she dropped the Choten on his head, knocking him out instantly.

"If you do not move out of my way, I shall have no choice but to kill you and your men." She warned.

"I'd like to see you try." Alexander laughed. His men began to summon their creatures.

"You wear clothes of the brightest colors and bells ring at your every step. You laugh at me, I laugh at you. Tell me, what are you?" The Sphinx asked, raising her wings and squaring her shoulders.

"I don't know, and I don't care." Alexander answered. He raised his gauntlet and commanded Bronze arm sabertooth to attack her.

"A fool." The Sphinx's jaw unhinged and a snake like appendage launched out of her throat, sporting an extra set of sharp teeth. The appendage pierced through the beastkin, banishing him immediately, and the teeth clamped down on Alexander Carnihan's throat.

Allie's Pov

Time seemed to slow as the Sphinx swung her head around, cracking her extra appendage like a whip and sending Alexander Carnihan's body flying into several others. His followers commanded all of their creatures to attack at once, and immediately ran from the Sphinx. Slowly, she retracted her second jaw, which was covered in blood, and grinned.

She began to stalk after them, but an explosion behind us stopped her.

"Heads up!" We heard Maria shout as Dragon mare crashed into the wall next to us.

The young woman rounded the corner just in time to see her creature banish back to the fire civilization.

"Guys, we have to get out of here!" She shouted.

"No kidding, Maria!" I shouted back. More explosions went off. "We're trying to keep the Choten from getting free!"

"No, you don't understand! The creatures outside though that Beowolf and Angel boy attacked the council, and Angel's followers though the opposite. It's an all-out war now! The Keep is going to be torn apart!"

Gabe and I exchanged a look of terror. The Sphinx seemed to not know what to do as well. Squeaky and Switchscale finally managed to banish the last of the enemy creatures, and continued to stand guard over the Choten.

"Wait, what about the Masters?" Gabe asked.

"They're helping to defend Sasha and the other council members. Angel boy and Beowolf disappeared." Maria replied. "Now, come on! I'm getting us all out of here."

Maria pulled her titan ring off of its chain and threw it at the ground. _"Light-speed Leviathan!"_

The ring took off as soon as it hit the ground, expanding to over twenty times its original size.

"There's no way a creature that size can fit in these halls!" Gabe warned her. "It'll break down the walls!"

"That's the plan!" Maria grinned.

The creature that burst through the ring was equal parts terrifying and gorgeous. It had the face of an owl and the body of a snake. Two disembodied feathered wings levitated close near its sides, and eleven sets of levitating spikes hung under it. Its tail had five more spikes and a few other spines that were not attached to its body.

"Break through the walls!" Maria commanded.

With a terrible screech, Light-speed leviathan did just that. Several of the spines hung down after it. "Grab on!" Maria yelled as she grabbed a spine and held it tight against her chest. Gabe and I copied her and Squeaky bit down on one. Sphinx picked up the Choten again and Switchscale began to hover off the ground.

Just as the end of the titan's tail disappeared through the hole in the wall, of its detached body parts began to follow, including the spines we held onto. Screaming the entire way, the three of us held on for dear life as Light-speed leviathan plowed through multiple floors of the Keep.

Finally, we were thrown into the open air. The light from the outside shocked me so much, that I accidentally let go of the spine.

"Light, catch her!" I could barely hear Maria's panicked scream.

Not a second later, I landed belly first on the titan's back. Looking around, I finally realized the full scale of the battle. Light creature was attacking light creature, and it didn't seem to matter who was on what side. Everyone was confused and afraid, and the Choten's minions weren't making anything better.

Not knowing what to do, I looked to Maria for help, but she seemed just as confused. The spines she, Gabe and Squeaky were holding onto hovered over Light-speed's back, and the three jumped down to where I was.

"What would Dedushka do?" I heard Maria whisper to herself. After a moment, her face hardened with determination.

She looked to the Sphinx, who was also horrified by the Chaos.

"Great Sphinx Alexandria, I'm going to have my titan teleport us away from here. Give me the Choten, and I will make sure he isn't taken." She called out.

The Sphinx looked down at Maria. "You cannot see me, hear me, or touch me. I lie behind the stars and alter what is real, I am what you really fear. Close your eyes and I come near. What am I?"

Maria was quiet for a second. She closed her eyes, and then smiled. "Darkness."

The Sphinx returned her smile and tossed the Choten onto Light-speed's back.

"Make sure I won't regret this!" She called, flying off to help stop the fighting.

We watched her disappear into the smoke and flames. Maria straightened her back and turned towards us. "Okay, so Light can't really teleport, but he can fly at light-speed. His aura will keep us safe from the pressure, but you still need to hold on tight. Also, don't hold your breath. He'll get us there fast, but if you pass out and fall between here and there, none of us will be able to save you."

Gabe and I exchanged a worried glance, but nodded anyways. We needed to get out of here, fast. Maria sat down on Light's back and pulled the Choten towards her. Gabe sat down as well and we scooted closer to Maria. I banished Squeaky so she wouldn't have to try and hold on as well.

"Light, get us out of here!" Maria commanded.

Without a warning, the titan lurched upwards, the spines beginning to glow golden and forming a circle in front of him.

"No, wait-" Maria's cry was cut off as Light-speed leviathan earned his name. He rocketed straight through the circle, which seemed to give him an extra boost.

We headed straight towards the ground, and were still picking up speed. Eventually, we were going so fast that I couldn't make out anything around us. Everything just mixed together and created just a white light. Suddenly, Light made a perfect, right angle turn, sending us off in a different direction.

Just as suddenly as this flight began, it stopped. Still blinking, I finally began to recognize my surroundings. We were in the middle of the darkness civilization.

My entire body was numb and I still couldn't really breathe. Light flew close to the ground and stopped, thank goodness, but I found that I couldn't move.

Maria seemed fine though. She jumped off of Light's back, pulled the Choten down, and then helped Gabe and Me unravel ourselves from the titan's back.

She escorted us into a small nook in the wall. "Stay here. The effects of the trip should wear off in a little while. I'm going back to help the others."

She ran back to the Choten and dragged him over to us. With a final wave, she jumped back on Light and took off.

After the initial shock wore off, I began to check out my surroundings. We seemed to be in some kind of destroyed temple. The marble walls had some black designs that were chipped away in some areas. Once I felt that I could walk again, I stood up and began to look around.

Most of the temple was destroyed, and I could make out what were probably once pictograms, but were also scratched away in most places. The best that I could make out were only small body parts like a hand or the tip of what probably was a tail.

Gabe finally got up as well and began to look around the temple.

"You stay here, I'm gonna look around." I told him.

"Allie, wait-" I ducked behind a broken pillar before he could finish. Looking around, I found what were probably parts of a statue littered across the ground.

Tall steps in another area lead to what probably was a shrine, but that was destroyed as well. The steps were as high as my knee, so the creature or creatures that came here were big by human standards, but probably not by creature standards.

I climbed the steps one by one, regretting this decision when I was about half way up, but I continued anyways. At the top, there were scattered beads and broken pieces of glass everywhere.

"What happened here?" I wondered aloud.

When I turned to leave, I noticed a small passage way out of the corner of my eye. It was narrow and unlit, so it was hard to see in the first place, but it was hidden at an angle in the corner as well, making almost invisible.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I squeezed my way through the narrow passage. After a while, the passage way opened up into a small room with a single statue of a kneeling creature in it.

The creature had the face of a fox, a body similar to that of a human, but clawed hands and feet. It also had nine tails. The statue also had black markings as well. A line down the middle of its back and around its lips and eyes.

"Allie, help!" Gabe's scream snapped me back to reality.

Taking a second glance at the statue, I ran back to where I left Gabe. When I finally reached him, he was being held on the ground by Shadow Kinder Puppet. Megaria was standing next to them as well.

"My dear Allison, It's been a while." She smiled.

"Let him go, Megaria!" I yelled. For some reason, the thought of her in a temple disgusted me. This was probably a place of worship or something for these creatures, and the thought of Megaria tainting a sacred place with her presence was infuriating.

"Now, why would I do that? I would get nothing in return for letting him go." She purred. "Maybe a trade is in order?"

Not in the mood for anything at the moment, I did something risky. I grabbed the silver chain around my neck and yanked my Titan Ring from it.

Megaria stepped back in shock. She scowled at the sight of the ring. The temple grew silent as Megaria thought up her next move.

"It would be lovely dueling with you again, Allison, but I can see you are in a bit of a foul mood at the moment." She snapped her fingers and the puppet let Gabe go. "I will let you both go free without a fight, but your prisoner is mine."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the Choten's body get dragged away by some darkness creature. Before either of us could do anything, Megaria and Razor Kinder left the temple and a dark cloud covered their escape.

Suddenly, all of the days events hit me at once, and I'm sure the same happened to Gabe. Neither of us even tried to go after them. "Let's get back to the temple. We have a lot of explaining to do to the masters and Maria."

Gabe began to walk out of the temple. I began to follow him, but not before glancing back one last time. I know this temple has something to do with the Kitsune. But what? This is definitely a place I will be going back to.


	15. Chapter 15

I am so sorry it's taken so long for this new chapter to come out, but life got in the way and I hardly had the time to write. My new years resolution will be to keep up with this story, a chapter a month, until its end. I've also decided to put Optimism on hold until School gets out because of how little time I have.

White Hunter- Glad you liked it! Sorry it's taken this long to write a new chapter

Flaminghelix- I am so sorry it's been so long since the last chapter. I'll try to keep some consistency by posting at least one chapter a month next year.

Chapter 15

Maria's Pov

When we arrived back at the light civilization, the battle seemed to be over. I directed Light back to the hole in the keep we created and back to the chambers we left the Duel Masters at. The doors had been completely blown off their hinges and dark burns blackened the gold walls.

A dark shadow lunged at us from the inside, but stopped short of attacking us. "Ahool, where are the masters?"

I jumped off of Light's back and Ahool led me through the chamber and down the main hall. Near the entrance, I could see Master Chavez and Isao pushing the intruders back. "Light, help them!"

Light screeched and threw his spines at the enemy creatures. I ran to the Master's sides. "Who is that? She doesn't seem to be a grunt."

"That's the former fire master, Tierra." Chavez explained. "She was trapped in the Kaiju realm up until last year."

I looked back to the woman and we locked eyes. Something about her seemed so familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it. "Force them out!" I commanded.

Light-speed Leviathan screeched again and began to glow. He charged the enemy and the light continued to get brighter. The light became so intense that I had to look away. I heard all of the creatures scream in pain and fear. When the light dimmed, several creatures had banished and the Choten's people were in full retreat.

"Good job, Maria," Chavez praised.

"Praise later. Where are the others?" I snapped.

"Protecting the light council. I'm sure they're fine. Where are the teens?" Isao replied.

"Safe with the Choten." I said. "Now, let's get back to the temple. I'm sure Allie and Gabe are already there with that monster."

Gabe's Pov

I don't think I'll ever forget the look of disappointment on the Master's faces when we finally returned to the temple. It took us a while to navigate through the darkness realm and cross directly to the temple, so they were waiting for us when we got back. Maria was upset as well, but glad that we were safe.

The next day, Wade asked me help him in the library. He's taking on a pretty big job, and I don't think Nadia took the time to tell him anything he needs to do.

"So, Nad gave up her life to become a librarian?" Wade grumbled as we re-shelved some tablets.

"She's more than a librarian, Wade. She's the water duel master. She's one of the five best duelists out there." I said.

"They aren't the best duelists, Gabe, they were deemed trustworthy enough to lead. Nadia is a terrible leader. She just goes off on her own or withholds information that could be valuable. She was chosen because the masters knew she wouldn't betray them." Wade scoffed.

No one in the temple could miss the note of anger in his voice. After a moment of silence, I spoke up. "What happened between the two of you? You care about her, but she didn't seem to like you, and you sound angry at her."

Wade paused, and then sighed. "It's a long story."

When he didn't continue, I crossed my arms and waited for him to continue. He cast me a glance and then sighed again.

"Nadia and I have been friends since we were kids. We were inseparable and did everything together. She was like a sister to me, and I tried to be a brother to her."

"So, what happened to make you two hate each other?" I asked.

"About seven years ago, I met a girl." He stopped for a moment and laughed. "Hindsight is always 20/20, Gabe. I know now that she was a terrible woman. From the moment I met her, she tried to pull me away from my friends. Always making me choose between her and doing things with friends or family, but I was too infatuated to notice. And I was too stubborn to listen to my best friend. Nadia knew something was up from the moment she met her. Our other friends knew something was up too, but Nad was the only one to really call me out on it."

"That really isn't a good reason for her to hate you." I said.

"Well, that was just the beginning of the worst mistake of my life. Not long after Nadia first confronted me about her, a few of our friends were involved in an accident, including Nadia's twin sister Ann. Ann was the only survivor but she was in critical condition. Both of us were already frustrated with each other, so when the accident happened, I snapped at her. I didn't even consider how she was feeling at the moment and just berated her for all of the things she said about my girlfriend. I even had the gall to call her jealous. She stopped talking to me after that. All of our friends took her side, and I got so angry that I decided to move. The day that I was moving out, Nadia called me. I didn't answer though. I just left. Abandoning her and everyone else." Wade fell silent. "I thought she called to try and stop me from leaving…"

"But you were wrong." I jumped at the new voice. Turning around, I saw Maria standing there. "She called you because our dedushka died. She called you because the Choten betrayed the order. She called you for help and support, and you abandoned us all."

 **Ray's Pov**

After another hard day of training with Mai, I was feeling worse than before. It's only been two days, so I don't know why I thought it would get easier, but I sure wish it was.

I was passing the park when my phone rang. Checking the caller ID, I read Raven's name on the screen. I don't think I've ever answered a call so fast in my life.

"Raven?"

"Sorry, but it's Orion again." I heard a familiar voice.

"Orion? Are you gonna make it a habit of calling me from your sister's phone?" I asked.

"Maybe. Right now, I need your help. Raven's been kind of down in the dumps after the surgery, but she doesn't allow her friends to visit her."

"So?"

"So, I want you to come to the hospital and cheer her up. You two haven't been friends for long, so I guessed she hadn't told you her rule. Come here and just say you called and I told you where her room is." He explained. "Please, I can't stand to see her like this."

I was silent for a moment, but I quickly decided what I was going to do. "I need to go take my dog on a walk first, but I'll be there as soon as I can. Text me her room number."

"Thanks." Orion said before hanging up.

Despite the pain my body was in, I ran the rest of the way home, took Okami on a run rather than a walk, then grabbed my bike and went to the hospital. I talked to the lady at the front and she directed me to where Raven's room was. Before entering, I knocked on the door.

"Come in?" I heard Raven's voice, a hint of a question in her tone. I opened the door and laughed at the surprised look on her face when she recognized me. "Ray, what are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too." I replied, crossing the room and sitting in the chair next to her bed.

"How did you know where I was?"

"Well, I assumed you went to the closest hospital, so I came here and asked for you. The lady at the front kindly told me where your room was and now I'm here." I lied.

"Well, I don't really like visitors when I'm in the hospital." She looked down at her hands.

White bandages wrapped around her head and covered her bad eye. She seemed a bit tired, but otherwise looked fine. "Why not? I'd hate to be alone in a place like this."

"I'd rather be alone than have my friends fuss over me like I'm incapable of doing anything while in a hospital gown." She huffed, crossing her arms.

"Okay then," I stood up straight and held up my right hand. "I promise I won't fuss or act like you can't do anything while you are in a hospital gown."

"You're hilarious." She chuckled. "So, what's up?"

Careful not to mention anything about Kaijudo, I began to tell her about my new mentor. She laughed and said my pain was my own fault, which I totally agree with and regret, but she also said she envied me.

"I used to train in martial arts, but my eye began to get really bad and my dad decided to take me out of lessons. It's been years now and he still won't let me do anything like that." She sighed.

"Well, you don't want this kind of training. Running two miles and lifting weights until you can't feel your arms was not something I was expecting. We haven't even got to martial arts yet." I said.

"Well, you need some physical strength to perform certain moves. She's probably just preparing you for that." Raven replied.

"I hope that's the case." I said. I know that's what's going to happen, but I'm already tired of weightlifting and running.

"Well, even if it isn't, you're gonna get ripped eventually." She teased.

"I'd rather know martial arts instead of being a walking bit of muscle." I leaned back in the chair. "So, how have you been?"

"Bored out of my mind. I tried to be productive and just do homework while I'm here, but I got pretty bored of that and drawing after the first day."

"Well, how long are you staying here for?" I asked.

"Another day or so. The surgery wasn't a major one." She replied. Her soft smile disappeared from her face.

"What's wrong?"

She was silent for a moment. "It's just that…" She paused for a moment, a frustrated look crossing her face. "I'm just tired. Tired of my eye problems, tired of the monthly surgeries, and I'm tired of everyone's pity. I can't do what I want because I'm half blind. My parents rarely let me out on my own because of my stupid eye!"

As she vented, I got a strange idea, and before I could banish it from the front of my mind, my mouth opened. "If you want to get out of the house, my school is having a dance this Friday. We could go."

I'm sure her shocked face mirrored my own. I had no intention to ask, but it came out anyways. "Um," she began.

"You don't have to go!" I jumped up. "It was just a stupid idea."

"No, it sounds fun." She said slowly.

"Are you sure?" I asked. I'm sure my face was beat red.

"Yeah."

"Well, okay then!" I sat back down, still completely embarrassed by not wanting to just up and leave after that. I'm sure the dance will be fun, and maybe I can convince Allie and Gabe to come with. Then they could meet Raven.

 **Allie's Pov**

All throughout the night and the school day, I couldn't stop thinking about that statue. "Your answers will come in time, just be patient." I remembered what Kura said to me, but how can I be patient when the black marks keep spreading?! My fingernails and toenails have turned black, which is easy enough to hide with some nail polish, but the black lines across my collarbone are a bit trickier.

I want to return to the temple, but it isn't exactly safe to go alone at this time with Megaria around. Ray's busy with tutoring, Gabe's helping his cousin, and no way will I ask the masters for help. I thought about asking Maria, but I'm sure she'd tell her sister about it. I really don't want to do this, but… She's better than nothing.

"You want me to what?" Alakshmi asked as she filled up a cup of coffee for a customer and passed it to a server.

"Come with me to the darkness civilization to back me up in case Megaria is still around." I carefully avoided the 'We had to give up the Choten or Megaria might have killed us' part. She still hates him with a passion, but from what I've heard, she's calmed down a bit.

"I don't want anything to do with the order or the veil or the creatures. I just want to get one with life." She huffed, turning away from me to grab a new drink order.

"You once said I was the closest thing to family you had." I reminded her, "Would you really let family get captured by Megaria?"

"You're not my family." She hissed, turning back towards me.

"Well then," I tried to act offended, but couldn't really pull it off. We were the farthest thing from family. I still don't care for her, but I know I can trust her. I'm sure she feels the same way about me, but I was surprised she snapped at me about it.

Not really sure what to do, I stood there quietly, trying to think of something else to say. She waited for me to say something, but I was already out of ideas. There was nothing for her to gain from this trip. I wanted to go for information that would only help me, so there was nothing to tempt her with.

"…Fine. I'll come, but on one condition." She relented, which greatly surprised me. "You don't waltz into my place of work and hunt me down ever again."

"Deal." I did basically just walk into the back when the server told me where Alakshmi's station was. I know that isn't a good thing to do, but I really didn't think. I've just been so distracted.

I went to the front, ordered some hot chocolate, and waited for Alakshmi's shift to end. Luckily, her shift ended about ten minutes after I arrived, and time went fast as I examined the pictures of the kitsune mask scroll I took when Gabe wasn't looking.

Alakshmi quickly changed out of her work clothes and we went on our way. We ducked into an alley way and I summoned Squeaky. We banished with her to the darkness civilization and she guided us back to the temple.

"What is this place?" Alakshmi asked, gazing at the ruins in both curiosity and worry. "And what could have done this?"

"That's what I want to find out. Stand back." I pulled the silver chain that held my titan ring out from under my shirt. Pulling the ring from the chain, I began to focus my mana into the golden band. _"Kura Kitsune, the murdurer!"_

I threw the ring at the floor and watched as it took off. It expanded to allow Kura through the rings, and I began to smile as the giant red and black fox burst through the portal that formed in the ring's center.

He shook the ground when he landed, knocking Alakshmi and I off our feet. When I heard her shout in surprise, I remembered that I never mentioned Kura to her.

"Alakshmi, meet Kura. Kura, this is Alakshmi." I introduced. "He's a titan."

"A titan?" Alakshmi stared at the creature.

"Yes, a titan." Kura grumbled, clearly annoyed. "Why have I been summoned? I don't see any enemies to fight-"

He trailed off at the sight of the temple, his annoyed face replaced with a surprised one, and then a sad one.

"Kura, I stumbled upon this temple yesterday… Is it a Kitsune temple?" I asked carefully.

For a while, he didn't respond. He simply stared at the ruins. Finally, he spoke. "Yes. This was a shrine dedicated to the royal kitsune family. The ones who bear our marks."

"Our marks?" Alakshmi echoed.

Letting out a deep sigh, I reluctantly showed Alakshmi the marks. "What do you mean, Kura? If these marks are from the royal family, why do I have them? And why do you have them?"

"I do not know how or why you have these marks, but as for me, my mother was Lady Ahri, the ten tailed. She was of the royal line, so I inherited the marks from her." Kura lowered his head.

"Do you think Ahri knows why I have these marks?" I asked. "Maybe we could find her-"

"You can't find her." Kura cut me off.

"Why not?" Alakshmi challenged. "Allie found this temple by chance, so it shouldn't be too hard to stumble across them as well."

"Because she's dead." Another voice echoed through the caverns.

Alakshmi and I whipped around to see Megaria standing at the opening of one of the many tunnels in this area. Kura didn't turn to face her, but I could see his body begin to shiver.

"They're all dead." Megaria explained. "I wiped them out of existence over five hundred years ago. But one half breed still lives."

"I didn't want to believe it…" Kura's voice was low. "I didn't want to believe that they fell to the likes of you." Slowly, he stood up on his hind legs and turned around, spreading out his nine tails. "But it is clear that what you say is true. No one would let the temple fall into ruins… they'd all have to be dead for this to happen. Now that I know this is really all your fault, I can avenge my family and my people!"

Kura lunged for Megaria, but she jumped out of the way. I could hear a strange horn being blown in another tunnel, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from. "Alakshmi…" I moved closer to her and she did the same.

" _Ember eye!"_ She summoned.

Squeaky turned inside out and came to my side. The tunnel began to rumble, and I knew what the horn was. It was a signal. Megaria was planning to overwhelm us if we came back, and I fell right into her trap, bringing Alakshmi right along beside me. But I had an ace up my sleeve, and his name is Kura.

Kura jumped away from the tunnel and back to us, offering his hand for us to climb up on. "I'll handle this!"

I jumped onto his hand, pulling Alakshmi along with me. He lifted us up to his shoulder, and we jumped on. "Let's see what you can do, Kura!"

He lifted his head and let out an earthshaking roar. He bent down on all fours and spread out his nine tails above the gathering darkness creatures. He allowed them to almost reach us when he brought all nine tails down on top of their heads, causing the ground to shake.

I commanded Squeaky to attack the few who got past Kura's tails. Ember eye flew above the thick of Megaria's forces and unleashed its fiery breath. Kura roared as even more darkness creatures poured through the tunnels.

"Kura' there's too many of them!" I shouted. "We need to get out of here!"

"I will not abandon this temple!" He roared. He took a deep breath, and then let his own fire breath take out another large group of creatures.

"Kura, you may be a titan, but there's just too many," I tried to reason. I heard a strange noise behind me and turned to see Razor kinder puppet climbing up Kura's spine towards Alakshmi. "Look out!"

Alakshmi turned around and ducked out of the puppet's way just before it could tear her apart with its claws. "Stupid puppet!" Alakshmi lunged at the creature and grabbed its strings. She punched it in the face before throwing it off of Kura's back.

"Well then," I couldn't hold back a small smile. It was pretty satisfying seeing that stupid little toy get thrown around, and I could see that Alakshmi enjoyed overpowering it too.

I turned my attention back to Kura. "Protecting the temple won't bring your mother back, Kura. It won't bring any of the kitsune back. Don't sacrifice yourself for them. I'm sure all of them would want you to continue living rather than die trying to avenge them."

He was silent for a moment, and then brought his tails down on another group of creature's heads. "Hang on." His voice was thick.

He didn't want to leave the temple, I could tell, but he bunched up his muscles and jumped away from Megaria's army. He quickly moved around the rubble from the temple, careful not to touch or step on anything.

"Kura, where are we going?" I asked him.

"Some place Megaria would never set foot." He replied. "Banish your creatures. Only Kitsune are welcome where we are going." Alakshmi and I traded an unsure glance, but we did as he said.

There was a large tunnel opening behind the temple and Kura headed straight for it. While Kura was fast, some of Megaria's creatures were faster. They grabbed onto the ends of his tails and attempted to climb their way up. Luckily, Kura is a massive creature, so it took time to climb up even half the length of one of his tails, and once a few were on a single tail, he would bash that tail against the ceiling and knock them off.

Kura expertly navigated the tunnels until we came across a great cavern covered in moss. He lunged forwards and quickly crossed the mossy cavern. I looked back and was surprised to see that none of Megaria's creatures would step on the moss. Kura slowed to a stop and turned towards the army as well.

"Who dares to cross into the land of the nightmares?" Kura challenged. "Let all who try face me!"

Megaria slowly made her way to the front lines, also being careful not to cross into the moss. "You've won this time, Kura Kitsune, but you won't be so lucky next time!"

"I'll face you when you show true honor! One on one. Just you and me." Kura snarled.

A whinny took my attention away from the army and Megaria. I turned around to see a blood red, emaciated horse standing there in the middle of the cavern. It slowly began to trot towards us. As it got closer, I began to notice other things.

Its eyes were like white pearls, and its mane and tail were actually trails of smoke. Smoke also billowed around its black hooves. Its nose seemed to have rotted away, leaving nothing but white bone showing around its mouth.

"That is Deinos the terrible, eldest daughter of the nightmare king. Half nightmare, half dragon mare, but more nightmare than dragon. She will not tolerate any creature on her father's territory, unless it is a welcomed one." Kura explained.

Deinos let out a terrible cry and pawed at the ground. Megaria seemed to understand unspoken words, and turned to leave the cavern. "One day, Kura, you won't have the protection of other creatures to save you, and that's when I'll strike. I'll finish the war that Ahri and I started, and I'll end it with you." She hissed.

Kura offered his hand and lowered us down from his shoulder. Deinos met us as we jumped onto the ground.

"Deinos, these are my allies. Do not harm them. They mean no harm to you, your herd, or your land." Kura explained, but Deinos didn't seem to be listening.

Deinos seemed more focused on Alakshmi than anything else. The creature slowly approached her and breathed a bit of smoke in her face. Alakshmi jumped back.

"Do not be afraid. Nightmares can sense the inner turmoils of humans. They feed off of feelings of fear and anger. She simply senses and wants a taste of yours." Kura explained.

Alakshmi breathed in a bit of the smoke and coughed. Before, the smoke was a dark red, but when Alakshmi breathed it out, it was white, almost like steam. Deinos breathed that in and gave a soft whinny. Alakshmi blinked at the creature in surprise. "What did it do to me? I feel, odd."

"She's eaten a bit of your anger and fear. It often leaves people feeling happy." Kura chuckled.

Suddenly, a terrible scream split the air. Deinos jumped back, ears pricked.

Kura raised his head. "It's the nightmare king. He is calling Deinos back. It's time for us to leave as well. Find a creature to take yourselves home. I need to return to my prison before I am missed."

"But wait," I began. "What about my marks? How am I supposed to find out about them now?"

Kura thought for a moment, and then lowered his head to me. "If Megaria is wrong, and someone of my blood crossed the veil, they might have given you the marks. The only kitsune who are chosen to lead are the ones with the royal black marks. My mother was born with the marks, but her sister was not, and neither was my cousin. But, when my aunt died, my mother took my cousin in and adopted her as her own. Since I was already promised to rule the fire foxes, mother magically gave my cousin the marks to lead."

"But why?" I asked.

"I don't know, Allie." He mumbled. "I just don't know."


	16. Chapter 16

White Hunter- thanks for reviewing and I'm glad you liked the chapter! And the answer to your question is down below.

 **Gabe's Pov**

I don't know what Allie's more upset about. When we met up at school, both she and Ray had some important info they wanted to share with the group at the same time. Ray let her go first, and we were all quite surprised. I still can't believe she went to Alakshmi for help, but I'm glad she did. It was a bit upsetting to learn that Megaria wiped out an entire new species of darkness creature, and incredibly unnerving to know that one of those creatures was a titan. I was very intrigued about the nightmares though. I'll have to ask Master Nadia about them when- if she gets back.

While Allie's story was crazy, Ray's news knocked the wind out of both of us. I really didn't expect Ray to ask Raven out, especially since he hardly knows her. I know it's really eating at Allie as well. I agreed to go with Ray to meet Raven, and I suggested taking Sasha as well. Allie and Lucy didn't, both saying they don't have anyone to go with.

When the bell rang for lunch, I pulled Allie aside before we got to our table. "Allie, I really think you should come with us." I said. "I know you've had a crush on Ray since forever, but he is way too dense to see that. If he can't catch wind of your feelings, he definitely won't catch wind of hers, if she does like him the way you do."

"I- I don't have a crush on Ray!" She huffed, her cheeks turning a bit red.

I raised an eyebrow. "Sure, but if you come with us, we can see if they really like each other or not."

"I don't have a date, Gabe. I would go, but I don't have anyone to go with!" She said slowly, trying to hide her annoyance.

"You don't have to go with anyone, you know. We could all just go as a group." I offered.

"And fifth wheel while you dance with Sasha and Ray dances with what's her name? No thank you. I'd rather not spend the dance alone." She turned away from me and crossed her arms. "It just wouldn't work out."

"Then invite Lucy to come with. I'm sure she's thinking the same thing you are. If she comes, you won't be alone." I suggested, hoping she would agree. It won't do her any good sitting at home alone and sitting with her jealousy. Ray's an idiot for not seeing what's been going on with her, but Allie hasn't exactly had the guts to confess. They're both complete idiots in this mess, and both none the wiser.

She didn't respond for a while, but suddenly, her expression changed. Instead of poorly masked anger, she now seemed thoughtful. That thoughtful look didn't last long though, and it was replaced with a calm smile. "Fine. I'll ask Lucy to come with."

I suddenly regretted convincing her to come. She was up to something, but I had no idea what. And considering what Lucy went through when Allie was jealous from her… I'm a bit worried for this girl's safety.

At the end of the school day, I called Sasha.

"Hello, Gabriel." She greeted me as she floated through the veil breach.

"Hey, Sasha. Listen, I know a lot's been going on in the light civilization, "I began.

"Yes. Our realm has fallen into Chaos. I still cannot believe that Angelboy and Beowolf haven't called an end to this yet. No brother of mine would ever allow such discord to occur when he could stop it." Sasha shook her head. "He is usually so docile and skittish. I never could have imagined him leading such an act against his own people."

I was surprised things were still so bad. The Light civilization is usually quick to solve problems, unless the problem is with enemy civilizations. "I'm sorry to hear that. I know you're probably really busy with this, but I was wondering if you would come to a school dance with me tomorrow night." I asked. "We'll all be meeting Ray's new friend, and since you're one of our friends too, you would like to meet her as well."

"It would be a pleasure, Gabriel. Call me when it is time for us to depart." She replied, opening the veil back up to return home.

I waved goodbye to her, and went on my way. Today was going to be another long day with Wade. It really took a special person to become a duel master. Wade is way too wild to sit still and do research or reshelf tablets all day long. He also is juggling his job at the hospital as well as being a stand in duel master, so he isn't there for most of the day. Because of my experience as light liaison, I knew exactly what he was going through with juggling more than one responsibility. He and I are two different people though, and it's really starting to show.

Wade is always moving. Always doing something. He can barely multitask, but he's always willing to jump into challenges head first, which isn't good when you're a duel master. Promising to spar with students while keeping up with research and keeping the library in decent condition is really piling up with him. I've tried to convince him to slow down, but Wade will be Wade, and he won't ever ask for help or admit he's wrong about how much he can handle.

I just hope he slows down a bit and doesn't completely wear himself out, because if something goes wrong with what Master Nadia's doing, I'm pretty sure Wade's going to be a top pick for a new Water master.

 **Ray's Pov**

I reached Mai's house a little earlier than normal today. I need to leave training early today to get some nice clothes for the dance. At the end of last year, I had a bit of a growth spurt and none of my nice clothes fit anymore. I also want to ask for tomorrow off since I don't want to be dead tired and sweaty before the dance.

None of the lights were on, so I assumed she was running a bit late from work. I pulled the key she gave to me from my pocket and unlocked the front door. Pulling off my backpack, I headed to the kitchen for a bottle of water. She buys them in bulk packs and keeps them next to the refrigerator. The second I bent down to grab one, I heard her voice outside.

"I know something's up, but there is nothing we can do about it. We were exiled from the order. The masters won't take kindly to us popping back up again after seven years of absence." I heard a click from the doorknob. I bolted for the stairs and hid behind the basement door. She would not be happy to find me here early and not working.

"Why's you're door unlocked?" A voice I wasn't familiar with asked. It was low and masculine, so I assumed she was talking to a man.

"It's probably my student. He must have come early." I heard two footsteps enter the living room.

"A student? Mai, we're gonna have enough trouble as it is when the masters figure out where the titan's tablets are. If they find out you're training someone, they'll take your memories!"

Titan's tablets? So they aren't at the temple after all.

"I'll be long gone before that happens." She paused for a moment. "Celeste came by last night. She says the creature realm is in chaos. The titans have turned their entire realm on its head."

Silence filled the room. I haven't even thought about Celeste in a while, even though she's the one who led me to Mai and the guard. She seemed to be living on the other side of the veil, so things must be hard right now with four out of the five civilizations in civil wars.

"You mean she came here and you didn't tell me about it?" The other voice rose in anger.

"She didn't want anyone to know. All she wanted was to come by and update me on what's been going on across the veil." Mai shot back. "I know she was a dear friend of yours, but both of us must respect her wishes. She doesn't want to live in the human world, so she doesn't have to."

"She's just hiding, Mai! She doesn't want to face the reality of what happened." He trailed off. "Of what we all went through."

"I know, but we can't force her to face it." Mai said gently, "I still have problems waking up in the morning because of it."

The other voice was quiet. "I'm leaving tomorrow."

"Where to?" Mai asked.

"The Himalayas. I need to get away from everything. I thought cutting myself off from kaijudo would be enough, but I guess not. Maybe the different environment will snap me out of it." He let out a sigh. "I don't know how she does it, Mai. Kaijudo is what caused this mess in the first place, so why is Celeste clinging to it?"

"We might never understand, but all any of us can do now is try to move forwards. I hope you find the peace that you're looking for."

"I'm not looking for peace, Mai. I just want the pain to go away." His voice broke a bit.

I began to feel bad for listening in. Since he seems to be close to Mai and Celeste, he might be a member of the guard as well. What ever happened that ended the guard must have been really devastating. I quietly walked down stairs and began to set up the weights.

Mai joined me eventually and put me to work. I didn't want to ask about leaving early anymore. I could run by a store on the way home, and I think Mai will welcome the distraction.

The next night came way too fast in my opinion. When I got to school in the morning morning, Allie and Lucy agreed to come to the dance. Allie and Lucy would ride together with Allie's Dad while my mom drove Raven, Gabe, Sasha, and me since there wasn't enough room for all of us in my mom's car.

Since Raven lived closer than Gabe, we planned to pick her up first, but then she sent me a text saying she wasn't ready yet and to go pick up my friends first. We took our time getting Gabe and Sasha, and then began to head back.

I couldn't help but tease Gabe as he left his house wearing a blue collared shirt with a golden bowtie. Sasha was wearing a beautiful golden dress that was similar to the one she wore the last time she went to a dance, but with some complex embroidery around the top.

"I love your dress, Sasha. It looks great on you." My mom complimented her.

"Thank you, Janet. Allison sent Gabe some literature for me to choose a dress from." Sasha explained.

"Remember, Sasha, Raven doesn't know about Kaijudo at all. Do you remember what Allie told you to say?" Gabe asked.

"I am to say that Allison, Lucy, and I went shopping the night before and the dress was found on a clearance shelf in a place called the mall." She recited.

"Good." Gabe praised. "I just got off the phone with Allie. She just picked up Lucy and they're on their way to the dance already."

"All righty then, let's go pick up Raven and be on our way." Mom ushered us back into her car.

I was really nervous to pick up Raven for whatever reason. Maybe it's because she'll be meeting Gabe and Allie for the first time? I really hope everyone get along and Raven will have a chance to relax and have some fun.

I sent Raven a text saying we were on our way and she replied back with an "all set". When we reached her house, I jumped out and half expected my mom to come with and introduce herself to Raven or her family. That only added to my nervousness. Sure I've talked to her brother on the phone before, but from what she's told me, her parents can be pretty harsh.

I take a breath, straighten the collar of my shirt, and head to the door. To my surprise, the door flew open before I got half way there, and out flew three toddlers and a boy about Raven's age.

"Run dude!" The boy yelled.

I didn't ask, I just took three steps backwards and got back into the car. The boy, who I assumed to be Orion, managed to catch up to the three and grab them all in one fell swoop. An older man, who I assumed to be their father ran up to Orion and took the two boys while Orion carried the girl back to the house.

As soon as the two disappeared through the doorway, Raven stepped out of the house, blushing hard. My mind has never gone blank so fast before. She was wearing a black, knee length dress with a golden belt and accents and black flats. Her eyepatch was just pure black and seemed to cover a little less than her normal one.

I felt someone shove my back and finally snapped back into reality. I got back out of the car and greeted Raven half way up the driveway. "Hey," I greeted her.

"Hey, sorry about that mess. My little siblings are very protective of me. This is also family night so they weren't happy that I'm skipping out on playing hungry, hungry, hippos with them." She smiled. "Sorry I wasn't ready when you were coming to get me. The little angels decided to hide my dress to get me to stay home."

"It's all right. We went ahead and grabbed my friends Gabe and Sasha. Come on, I'll introduce you." We headed to the car and climbed in.

"Hi," Gabe greeted her as she buckled in. "I'm Gabe and this is Sasha."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Raven smiled. "Ray has told me a lot about you two."

"Really? He hasn't exactly told us much about you." Gabe shot me a playful look.

"Interesting…" Raven grinned. "Must be because of my horrible humor."

We continued talking until we reached the school. I was glad to see how well she and Gabe were getting along, and I was pleasantly surprised by how patient she was with Sasha's blunt questions about her eye.

"Thanks for the ride, mom." I gave her a kiss on the cheek as we filed out of the car.

"Have fun you guys!" She waved goodbye as she pulled away from the curb. The four of us waved as well as we began to walk to the entrance.

"So, this is San Campion High, huh?" Raven looked around. "It's nicer than what I expected."

"What did you expect?" Gabe asked.

"Well, the teachers kind of keep us in line with horror stories of students who would get expelled from our school and then go through living hell here. I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting." She chuckled.

"Well, for a lot of new kids, it is a living hell," I turned at the sound of Allie's voice. "You just have to get used to the types of people here."

Allie was wearing a light purple dress with darker purple and black accents and Lucy was just wearing a simple green dress with a darker green jacket.

"Raven, these are my friends Allie and Lucy." I introduced the girls.

"Now that everyone's here, let's head on in." Lucy suggested.

We were about half way inside the doors when something came flying at me out of the corner of my eye. I only had about half a second to react, and I used that second to push Raven ahead of me before it happened.

Carny charged right into me, and if I hadn't pushed Raven out of the way, he would have sent me flying into her. Raven yelped in surprise and I fell to the floor. Unfortunately, I couldn't get out of practice today, and my body was so sore from training with that I had to take a second to get over the pain.

"Carny, knock it off!" Allie jumped in front of me.

"Shut it, Smelison, or else." Carny shoved her out of the way.

From the looks of it, Carny was out for blood. He was more than likely still struggling with his grief from his father's death, and now decided to take it out on us.

"Hey," Raven let out a sharp shout that surprised us all. "Back off, mate."

Her accent began to come out a bit more than normal. She squared her shoulders and stood in front of Carny. Gabe and Lucy helped me up while Sasha helped Allie up.

"Wow, another mutt, mutt?" Carny scoffed. "Seems like it's true about mutts being attracted to their own kind."

"Mutt?" Raven tilted her head. "Wow, how originally bland. I've been insulted by toddlers worse than you have."

At that moment, Carny noticed her eyepatch. "Wow, a mutt and a cripple. Good going, looser."

I've never seen someone move so quickly in my life. Raven smacked the lights out of Cary and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him just centimeters away from her face. "Wanna see what this cripple can do?" She hissed.

I don't think he's ever been struck like that. All he could do was stare at her with wordless surprise. Satisfied, Raven pushed him away and flicked her long black and blonde hair. She grabbed by arm and began to pull me away.

"Thought so, now let's get going." She smiled.

I allowed her to pull me away and the others followed, leaving Carny alone. I felt kind of bad. He had just lost his father, but that still didn't give him the right to take it out on us. It especially didn't give him the right to call Raven a cripple.

"I'm really sorry about him." I began, "He's not the greatest person in the world to begin with, but he's been having it hard and is kind of taking it out on everyone else."

"Still doesn't make it okay." She replied.

"Yeah, Ray," Allie added. "He's a text book bully. Don't give him sympathy when he doesn't deserve it."

As we approached the gym, I could hear other teens cheering as a popular song came on. Before walking in, I looked around to my friends. Gabe was being as awkward as ever with Sasha blissfully unaware, Lucy and Allie had started a conversation about something, and Raven was quietly listening to their conversation. It was nice to have all of my friends together. Tonight, we weren't going to worry about kaijudo or medical problems, we were just going to have fun.

The beginning of the night had started a tad rough with Carny, but it had really bounced back. Gabe and Sasha found a table to hang out at while Raven, Allie, Lucy and I began to dance. We didn't even try to dance well, we just had fun. Eventually, Gabe and Sasha joined us, and all of us took turns teaching Sasha some silly move that was either incredibly out of date for the time, or the moves to a certain song. It was awesome.

 **Allie's Pov**

After some time, we decided to take a break and grab some food and drinks. We reclaimed the table Sasha and Gabe found, and took a much needed breather.

"I haven't been to a school dance in some time." Raven laughed. "I forgot how fun they are."

I still haven't been able to figure her out. She doesn't seem to have a crush on Ray, but the way she clung to him earlier when she pulled him away from Carny said otherwise. She seemed like a nice enough person. If I just randomly met her on the street, I think we would have been fast friends, but I just can't bring myself to really try and talk to her.

"We went to one last year, but we had to leave a bit early." Gabe said. "We had a lot of fun then."

"I went to a dance about two years ago with my best friends. It was great, but we haven't gone to another one since." Raven took a sip of the punch and grimaced.

"What's wrong?" Ray asked her. "Is it bad?"

"No," She stammered. "Its… it's a bit sourer than I expected."

She wasn't the best liar. I took a sip of the drink to find that it was sour, but barely so. I looked up to say something, but I gasped at the sight of a thin trail of blood running down Raven's face from under her eyepatch.

The others glanced at me in confusion. "Raven, you're bleeding!" I pointed to her eye.

Her hand immediately went up to touch her eyepatch. She quickly stood up, accidentally knocking her chair over. "Sorry!" None of us missed the note of panic in her voice. "Is there a bathroom near here?"

"Don't apologize," Ray stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder. "This way."

All of my earlier resentments seemed to fade into worry for the girl. She just recently had surgery, so it was probably way too soon for so much moving around. I stood up and followed the two as Ray led Raven out of the gym.

When we reached the closest bathroom, Raven's entire cheek was covered in blood. "Here, let me help you." I followed her into the bathroom while Ray waited outside. When she reached a sink, she leaned over and pulled off her eyepatch. Blood gushed out from under the fabric and revealed a blood soaked piece of gauze taped over her eye. "I can was that off for you." I offered.

"Thanks, "She gave me the black eyepatch. "I'm really sorry about this."

"Stop apologizing and take care of yourself." I attempted to joke, but it came out weird. She pulled off the gauze and threw it in the trashcan. I couldn't stop myself from looking. Her eye was stitched closed, but one of the stitches had clearly come out. Angry scars covered the area of her face that her eyepatch hid.

I quickly looked away and turned on the faucet. Raven did the same and leaned over to splash some water on her face. I began to wash off her eyepatch, and when I cast her a glance, I was very surprised to watch her pull another stitch off of her eye.

I let out a gasp, and Raven seemed to know exactly what freaked me out. "My nerve endings around this eye are all shot, I can't feel a thing from my eyebrow down to my cheekbone."

"Oh, well I guess that's a good thing." I looked back to the eyepatch.

"Not really. No nerve endings means I can't feel when something like this happens. If you hadn't said anything, I wouldn't have noticed at all."

"Well, at least you're wearing a black dress. If you dripped any blood on it, it won't show at all." I offered.

"Yeah. I normally go goth for a while after a surgery just for that reason." She laughed.

She finally washed all of the blood away and pulled a small packet from a pocket on her dress. "If you're squeamish, look away."

I did for a moment, but I glanced back out of curiosity and about feinted as I watched her take a needle and thread and sew the gap where the stitches came out. "What are you doing?!"

"Hey, it's a heck of a lot easier than going back to the doctors and paying a ton of money for two stitches." She shrugged.

I looked away as she worked on her eye when a loud crash made us both jump. "What was that?!" Raven asked. "I nearly freaking impaled my eye!"

A bad feeling began to form in the pit of my stomach. I placed her eyepatch on the sink near her and headed for the door. "You stay here, I'll go check."

I ran out of the bathroom and towards where the sound was coming from. I noticed that Ray wasn't waiting for us, and I knew what ever happened really wasn't good.

Another crash shook the school, and sounded like it came from outside. I headed for the entrance, and before I even reached the door, I could already see the problem. Carny was dueling with Gabe and Sasha.

Gabe's dragon was quite the weird creature. Always aloof and stubborn when it came to anything but dueling. Then all bets were off. I could tell Gabe was really struggling with the creature. Fire civ creatures just weren't a good match with him. They are too wild and explosive, and that doesn't work well with Gabe's more logical style.

Sasha was standing over a body on the ground and Ray was watching Gabe fight. I pulled on my gauntlet as I burst through the door. When I was finally outside, I noticed the body was an unconscious Lucy. "What in the heck happened?!"

"Carny began to attack the school to draw us all out. He surprised us and his creature knocked Lucy out cold!" Ray shouted to me.

I turned and finally realized that something was different about Carny's creature. It was evolved. It now was twice its original size and had sprouted several more arms and blaster weapons.

"Well, if it isn't Smelison," Carny laughed. "Come to help out your pathetic nerd friend?"

He ordered his creature to turn one of its many arms to me and fire off several rockets. I threw up my shield just before the rockets crashed all around me. _"Scaradorable of Gloom hollow!"_

Squeaky jumped out of the veil breach and ran to me. "No time for hugs, keep those rockets away from the school!"

Carny's creature shot several more rockets towards us, and Squeaky countered them all with a swarm of her fear bats.

" _Tatsurion the unchained!"_ Ray summoned Bob who tore out of the veil with a loud roar.

"Bob, help Switchscale, and try not to wreck the school!" Ray said as he jumped on his back.

"No promises." Bob charged the creature and rammed it full force.

"What the," I whipped around at the sound of another voice behind me. It was Raven.

"Raven, get inside!" Gabe yelled as the creature shot more rockets at me and now Raven. "Sasha, help them!"

Sasha picked up Lucy and flew towards us, dropping her disguise and taking up a protective stance in front of us and the school. Squeaky unleashed a horde of fear bats while Sasha readied her light beams. This time, none of the rokets hit the ground.

"What's going on?" Raven rushed to my side.

"Um, long story short, we can summon creatures like Sasha, Squeaky, Bob, and, Switchscale and fight against bad people and creatures like Carny and his kaiju." I said as I jumped onto Squeaky's back. "Sasha, defend the school and these two. Let's go Squeaky!"

Squeaky charged at Carny's creature. The evolved Kaiju saw us coming and grabbed Switchscale by the throat. It hurled the armored dragon towards us, and Squeaky just barely jumped out of the way before we were crushed. While Switchscale was down, it shot off a barrage of rockets that banished the dragon.

Bob roared in anger and pulled out his chain whips. He managed to beat back the creature for a few moments, but the many armed creature finally caught the chain. A game of tug of war ensued, and for a few moments, the two fire creatures seemed evenly matched. While still pulling at the chains, the creature raised one of its many arms and aimed several rockets at Bob. Since the chain was part of his Armor, Bob was now at the mercy of the evolved creature.

Ray, knowing full well what would happen next quickly jumped off of Bob's back and made a run for it. The creature fired off several rockets just as Bob managed to break his chain, but it was too late. Each rocket hit its target, and Bob was banished with a scream.

"What now?" Carny laughed. "All of your good creatures are gone!"

"Not so fast," I challenged, Squeaky screeched in anger. "We're still here!"

I jumped off of her back and commanded her to dart between the giant creature's legs. It attempted to catch her, but it had lost some maneuverability after evolution, and Squeaky was fast. If I could distract it long enough, Ray and Gabe could think of a plan and summon something strong enough to beat this beast.

"I don't have to beat the creature to win!" Carny pointed at me, and I felt my stomach drop. The creature directed several rockets at me, and shot them off. My shield handled the first few times, but I didn't have the mana to stop all of these. I turned to run, but tripped over my own feet and hit the ground hard.

Everything slowed down. Squeaky screeched and ran for me, and I could hear my friends screaming my name. The rockets were quickly coming for me, and all I could do was wait for the inevitable.

Suddenly, the ground under me turned black, and a dark shadow enveloped me. Squeaky reached me just before the first rocket crashed down. She was banished immediately and yet none of the other rockets touched me. They didn't even appear to make contact with the shadow. I turned to look at my friends, but everything around me was just a black void. I could only see things that were above me. Just after the last rocket blew up above me, I felt my body began to raise up and the dark void around me began to disappear. The shadow slowly slipped back into the ground and disappeared.

"Allie!" I turned to see Ray and Gabe running towards me.

"What the heck was that?!" Gabe asked. "Some shadow thing pulled you into the ground!"

Is that what happened? What could have done that?

"You're creatures are all gone!" Carny's laugh pulled us all back to the situation at hand. "Now, time to avenge my father!"

" _Guardian Sphynx, Alexandria!"_ All of us turned to Raven in shock. There she was, performing the Light kata perfectly and wearing Lucy's activated gauntlet.

The Sphinx gracefully flew out of the veil, and turned to Raven. "My little bird, how good it is to see you again."

Freaking what?! Raven's a duelist? "Alex," Raven called to her creature. "End this fight."

The sphinx turned to face Carny, who had turned pale as a ghost. If Carny believed we killed his father, then he must have been told who was there when he died. He must have been told that the creature that killed his father was the Sphinx.

"Brothers and sisters you have none, but that man's father is his father's son. Who is he?" Alex asked.

Carny froze. When he didn't answer, Raven did. "His son."

Alex lunged forwards and collided with Carny's creature. Her second jaw shot out and gripped onto its face. She savagely tore at the creature with her claws and slapped her powerful wings against its sides. It didn't take long before his evolved creature banished. Alex slowly began to stalk towards Carny, who took a step back in fear.

"Alex, no!" Raven's shout stopped the Sphinx in her tracks. "He's just a kid. Let him go."

The creature didn't respond for a while. Finally, she turned back to Raven and gave her a sweet smile, "Anything for you, little bird."

"Thanks, Alex. I'm sorry it's been so long." Raven walked up to the creature. The sphinx lowered her head and kissed Raven's forehead.

"Until we meet again."

Raven banished the creature and turned back to us. "Well, that was fun."

 **No Pov**

The creature watched the teens with great interest as they surrounded the blonde boy and began to take him somewhere. It had not expected its job would be difficult in the slightest, but stretching a shadow was difficult, and using that shadow to pull something other than itself into the shadow world for even a few moments was exhausting. But it had to carry out its mission. If it had not, exhaustion would have been the least of its worries.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

This chapter is a bit shorter than the previous ones. I wanted to tie up the loose ends of the last chapter before I take a break from writing for the next two months. Not only is the SAT coming up (which is now mandatory in my school) but AP testing is also coming and I am really not prepared. I've also have quite a few other things going on that take priority over writing fanfiction, but the testing is the main reason why I'm taking a break. I just wanted to let you know so it doesn't seem like I just quit the story. I will never leave a story unfinished, no matter what. (It just might take me a while to do)

Also, I would like some input about the story. I've got a lot of things going on in this story and would like to know how you feel about them. Who's your favorite character? What do you think will happen next? How do you feel about the main plot and sub plots and which are you most interested in? I would appreciate it if you could take some time out and write your thoughts.

Thanks

-Echo

Gabe's Pov

I don't believe I'll ever get over the sight of someone's memories getting taken from them. Especially from one who has been effected by Kaijudo as much as Carny has. He was sent to the choten to train for months, fought against us for almost two years using only a single creature, and also lost his father to a creature. Ray's mother refused to get her memories taken because of her husband's supposed death. None of us could ever imagine the feeling of having the knowledge of a loved one's death getting stolen away from them.

Maria was the one we called to help us coral Carny long enough to take his memories. Even after Lucy woke up, the five of us weren't able to drag him back to the temple. Raven warned against calling the duel masters since she was involved, so we called the water master's little sister instead. She met us half way to the school and picked us up. Ray and Raven stayed behind, though, which really seemed to bug Allie. We took him down to the library and Maria sent the swarm of cyber viruses after him.

"So, what should we do with him after we take his memories?" Lucy asked.

"From what you've told me," Maria began, "We can't take him into the order like Alakshmi, so we'll probably just let him loose with some supervision."

"You know about Alakshmi?" Allie asked.

"Well, yeah. She lives with Nadia and me." She said with a shrug.

"Wait, what?!" Allie cried, flinging her hands above her head. "When did that happen?"  
"When Nadia dragged her home last year. Alakshmi was living on the streets and Nad was not okay with that, so now she's with us. My sister actually dug her own grave when she did that since Alakshmi was only sixteen at the time and in need of a legal guardian. The other masters pawned that responsibility off on her." She laughed.

I always wondered what Alakshmi did after she left the Choten and Tierra. She's rarely at the temple, at least when we're there, and I don't see her around San Campion at all. I'm glad she's with someone instead of being alone.

It took a while, but Carny was finally done and he had no memories what so ever of Kaijudo. Maria led him out of the temple, leaving the four of us in the library in a rather uncomfortable silence.

"If it is alright with you, Gabriel, I must take my leave. This was a rather enjoyable night, but I must return to my people." Sasha finally broke the silence, completely unaware of the tone in the room. I waved to her as she banished back to the creature realm.

"Well, I guess it's true about time repeating itself" Lucy chuckled, attempting to lighten the atmosphere. "Another botched dance curtesy of Carny."

"Yeah, except the part about Ray on a date with another duelist." Allie crossed her arms and turned away from us, heading deeper into the library.

I could kind of understand why she was so upset. Raven was pretty, funny, and kind, all of the things Allie also was. She more than likely felt that the only thing she had that the other didn't was the title of duelist, and now she didn't even have that against Raven. During the dance, it was clear she was uncomfortable around Raven, but she seemed to be getting better. I'm afraid this new development has set her back to the start.

"I should be heading back home too," Lucy shook her head and sighed. "The dance is over and I promised my parents I wouldn't stay out too late."

"Alright then," I waved as she left the library. "Goodnight."

Once she had disappeared through the library's entryway, I set to work. Something had saved Allie's life back there, and I was determined to find it.

"Okay, so a shadow appeared to form from under her, wrap around her, and then pull her into the ground." I recalled the events of the night. "Shadows are a Darkness thing, so that's where I should start."

I headed over to the darkness section and began to look for any creature tablets that mentioned shadows. After I compiled about thirty, I decided that this wouldn't be the most effective way to do this.

Thinking back, I had a feint recollection of a similar looking shadow stretching from the school and to the black shadow that saved Allie.

So, the shadow didn't just appear, it stretched out towards her from something else. The way the shadow engulfed her and pulled her into the ground kind of reminded me of the spell of banishment.

I set out towards the spell section of the library and searched for the scroll of the Spell of Banishment. Since it was such a prominent spell for duelists, it was easy to find. I opened the scroll fully and began to examine the information. I reviewed the steps to cast the spell and the description of its effects. I let out a frustrated noise and flipped the scroll over, hoping that there might be something on it describing similar functioning spells.

Unfortunately, there was nothing on the back, and my search got even more challenging. I flipped the scroll back over again, and paused. When I flipped it, I pulled the scroll out just a bit more than it probably should have. I at first thought I ripped it, but the paper was fine. I looked at the very top of the scroll and found some small writing at the very top. I had to squint to read the fine print.

The Spell of Banishment was derived from the shadow sneak ability of the Kitsune.

"Of course the Kitsune are involved." I muttered.

 **Ray's Pov**

Raven was adamant about not going to the temple. She was fine seeing Maria, but she continued on about how none of the masters must know of what she did tonight. Seeing an opportunity, I stayed behind with her while the others took Carny to the temple.

"So," I began as we headed for home. "How long have you known about Kaijudo?"

"Probably a lot longer than I should. My mom and dad both became duelists around sixteen and they stayed duelists up until about twenty years ago." Raven began. "They actually met at the temple. There was a big competition and duelists from all across the globe attended. Dad was originally from here, but my mom was from Australia."

"Really? My dad was actually the former Nature master. He and my mom got trapped in the Nature realm for a long time when I was little, so my mom had to become a duelist as well." I explained the bare minimum, wanting to avoid the long, drawn out story. "Both were involved but I found out kind of by chance."

"I have a feint memory of some monster when I was really little. I lived in Australia up until about seven years ago because my dad moved down under to marry my mom. Apparently, there's a lot of creature sightings around the outback. I remember drawing the monster after I saw it and my father freaked out." Raven chuckled at the memory. She stopped for a moment, causing me to stop as well. "Kaijudo is actually the reason I have something wrong with my eye…" She said slowly.

Fifteen different terrible ideas crossed my mind with this new bit of information. I could see she was uncomfortable, so I asked, "Is it okay if I ask what happened?"

She looked up at me, and it was clear she was a bit nervous. "I- I've just never told anyone the real story before. I was always afraid of a pity party whenever I told someone my fake accident story, and now I'm terrified." She tried to laugh it off, but her voice cracked and she began to quiver.

"It's okay," I stepped towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to tell me."

"No, it's okay. People always say you should talk about your problems to other people, but I've never had the ability to talk about it with someone my age." She looked down at the sidewalk. "Maybe it'll help?"

"I promise that I would never pity you, Raven. I promised you before, and I'll promise again." I reassured her. I began to look around and saw a bench just across the street. Taking her hand, I led her across the road and we sat down.

"I was about six when it happened. My dad had taken me out for icecream after some school event. Mom was at home taking care of Orion because he got sick, so it was just the two of us. We were passing a construction site when a veil breach opened up at the back of the site. Dad made me hide near some equipment while he handled the creature. Unfortunatly, my dad was really good at staying calm and handling situations like that, so I had no clue something actually dangerous was near us. I ended up climbing on one of the excavators and falling. I fell on my head and cracked it wide open." She moved her patch enough to show me a feint scar running from her hairline and down her temple. "I was out cold, so I don't remember anything of what happened next. I found out years later that the creature who breached the veil was a patchwork surgeon. It smelled my blood, snatched me up, and ran back across the veil before my father could stop him. I apparently popped my eye in the fall, so the creature so graciously took it out and gave me a new one. A creature's eye with a mind of its own."

I stared at her in a mixture of shock and horror. I couldn't even begin to imagine how terrible it must have been to wake up with a creature in her body. Not even an entire creature; just a body part. "Oh…" Was all I could manage to say.

"The worst part about it is that the eye is growing its own neural network inside my head, almost like it's trying to take over my body. I have no control or feeling in and around the eye, but I can feel when it tries to reach out even more in my head. My doctor is afraid of where it is. He fears that if it just reached back enough, it could infest my brain and kill me, so I've been having monthly surgeries to remove as much of its new branching parts as possible around my brain. He even went as far as placing a piece of metal in-between my eye socket and my brain, but it's still a threat."

"Why doesn't he just take it out?" I asked, now not as much horrified as sad that this is happening to her.

"Because of how deep its neural network goes. I can feel its branching limbs down all the way in my neck, wrapping around my spine and windpipe. If he tried to take it out, he could either accidentally break my neck, tear or restrict my windpipe, or cause an infection in my neck that could kill me as well if he left the branching parts in. There are a bunch of other things that could go wrong, but those are the three I remember." Raven reached out a hand and touched the side of her neck. "Sometimes, I swear it can hear us. That is knows that it will remain in as long as it has a hold of my neck. It hasn't spread any further, even though my heart and lungs are just beneath it."

She began to shiver, her entire body quaked at the thought of her eye's possible sentience. I placed an arm around her and gave her a squeeze. I didn't attempt to say anything. How could anyone reassure someone who was in constant fear of dropping dead from an invader in her own body?

She leaned into me, and took a shaky breath. "That isn't even the worst part, either. The eye still has some kind of power. If it catches a person's eye, it will make them freeze. If I turn away fast enough, the person will just pass out. If it hold eye contact for too long, however, it will make them go insane. It's why I have my eye sewed closed. I couldn't bare it if I made someone go crazy."

We sat in silence for a long time. I could tell she didn't need words right now, just some company. Her story kind of reminded me of my father's situation with Humonculon. Humonculon was at first only living in my father's eye socket, but after it was evolved, it went mad and took over my dad's body. Maybe it would be good for her to talk to him, since they have a bit of a similar experience. For now, though, I'll just let her choose when she's ready to open up more.

 **Allie's Pov**

"Ray is just so- I mean can't he see that… Ugh!" I paced my room trying to find a way to figure out what the emotions in my heart were. Ray is just so freaking stupid sometimes! After all these years you would think he could catch onto other's emotions.

It was completely dark when I got home, and the first thing I did was take a shower to try and calm down. It didn't work, so here I was, pacing my room, still soaking wet and in a rage that I still can't full explain. I threw myself on the bed, frustrated beyond belief, when I heard something above me.

I froze, even holding my breath, waiting for another sound. Sure enough, there was another sound, and then another, and another. It sounded almost as if a person was walking on the roof. My heart began to beat a little faster as I listened to the sound grow move towards my window. Just as suddenly as it appeared, the sound was gone. I carefully slid off my bed and moved towards my dresser. Grabbing my gauntlet and putting it on, I slowly crossed my room towards my window.

As soon as my gauntlet activated, I quickly threw open my window and pulled up a shield, half expecting something to fly into the room. Instead of something solid and living come into the room, a cool breeze lightly touched my face.

All of my anger and confusion was gone and now was replaced with a creeping fear that continued to itch at the back of my head. Something was definitely out there, and maybe even still on the roof, but the events of the night finally caught up to me. I closed and locked the window, and headed to bed. I ended up falling asleep with my gauntlet on just in case.


	18. Chapter 18

I am so sorry this chapter took so long. I know I promised I would get this chapter out last month, but I just couldn't get it done until now. Sorry, I'll do better from now on.

Guest- Part of Nadia's plotline comes to a head in the next few chapters, and there will be a lot more of the titans coming soon. And we'll just have to wait and see about Raven. Thank you for your review and I did well on all of my tests.

Alakshmi's Pov

It's been over a month since Nadia started this new intense meditation schedule. The majority of her day is spent in the basement with locked doors, which worries Maria and me to no end. Maria already had to kick the door down once when she was in there for over twenty four hours, but she still hides away as she meditates.

"There's going to be a full moon tonight." Maria told me as we went through our morning routine.

"And?" I asked, packing the bag Nadia bought me for school and absentmindedly fixing my San Campion prep uniform. She has given me a lot of things for me. She gave me a place to live, a chance to go to a real school, and invited me into her family. I owe her so much…

"There's a lot of stories all around the world about magical events connected to the full moon. I eyed the scroll before I gave it to Nad. I might not know old latin, but I know what the word lunae means. And when something mentions the moon, it's almost always about the full moon. Something's going to happen today." Maria absentmindedly played with her coffee cup, staring into the dark liquid.

I stopped for a moment. Nadia's health has been deteriorating rapidly since she started meditating like this, I don't think she would be able to handle _anything_ happening. "She needs to stop." I couldn't keep the disgust out of my voice. "She's making herself sick. At this point I'm pretty sure she's killing herself."

"You think I haven't noticed that?" Maria glares at me. "She's doing it for the masters. It doesn't matter to any of them if she gets killed, so it doesn't matter to her. I know I haven't been around much since she took you in, but you obviously don't know any of the masters well. Each and every one of them will die for the order, and they will let the other masters die as well."

"Chavez wouldn't let that happen." I argued. I can hardly stand the man, but I've had to tolerate his presence way more than usual lately. He's worried for his girlfriend, I understand that, but if her sisters can't convince her to take better care of herself during this time, then no one can.

"He is. If he really cared for her, he would have convinced her to leave the order the moment they started dating." Maria shares my dislike of the fire master, but is _way_ more open about it.

"Hey, hey, hey." The macaw of the house, Pickle, called softly, trying to calm us the same way we would calm him. I hated the bird at first. He was passed down to Nadia after her grandfather died, and he was one of the most obnoxious animals I had ever. He's loud, mean, and gets into everyone's business, but he does have his moments.

"Damn bird," Maria said softly. "How can he be such a monster but still weirdly caring?"

"I don't think we'll ever know." I sighed, looking at the gorgeous yet infuriating creature.

Suddenly, Pickle straightened up on his perch, bobbing his head up and down excitedly. He seemed to be looking past us, so we both turned just as Pickle launched off of his perch. He gracefully flew between us and landed on Nadia's arm.

"Hello Nadi! Hello Nadi!" He repeated excitedly.

I had to stop myself from gasping at her condition. Supporting herself heavily on the stair railing, the woman gave him a weak smile and allowed him to crawl up to her shoulder, but then she turned to us, her face darkening. "Maria, it's time."

 **Ray's Pov**

Mai decided to up the routine a bit by making me start training at the actual crack of dawn. It was at five AM when she sent me a text saying that we were going running in ten minutes. I tried sneaking out, but was caught by my grandpa.

Luckily, I was able to think up a lie just in case someone caught me. Okami sleeps with me all night long, so when I told Ojiisan that she was restless so I decided to take her out early with me. The opposite of that was true though. She threw a fit when I got up out of bed and I had to drag her out of my room and tempt her to the door with treats. Once she was outside, though, she was ready to run.

Which is what we did. Mai made me run, well, run as much as I could for five miles. Okami loved the running part a lot longer than I expected. She was good for three miles before she dropped and refused to get up. I had to leave her with Mai and continue running by myself at that point.

After all the running, I took Okami home and returned to Mai's house. I was way beyond tired, but I had to talk to Mai about the Guard. All we have been doing since I started my training was just that, training. I wanted to learn about their abilities and culture. I want to be a Kaijudo Guard, not be just as strong as one.

"You're doing well," Mai praised me. "You've grown remarkably in just a few weeks. We might be able to step it up by next month."

"Step it up?" I asked, feeling a little piece of my soul leave me. Haven't I been working hard enough already?

"Yes. Right now you are only doing physical training. By next month, I want to move on to mana control." She sat down next to me on the couch. "If you continue working hard, though, we might start within a few weeks."

I couldn't hide my excitement. "Really?" I gave her a big smile. Finally, I'll get a break from all the workouts!

"And, to keep your excitement until then," She laughed. "I'll give you a bit of a teaser."

She stood up and placed her left foot on the couch. Lifting up her pants leg, She showed me a black tattoo of what appeared to be a tail that wrapped around her ankle, and continued wrapping around her leg past her pants. She then pulled down her shirt past her shoulder and turned her back towards me. There, on her shoulder, was the head of a dragon in black ink, and the neck continued past where she pulled down her shirt.

"This is a very special tattoo. The black ink actually isn't ink at all. It's mana. I have another one that wraps around my other leg that ends at my other shoulder as well. Some guard members can choose to get this ink mana infused ink placed just under their skin." She explained.

"Why would they do that? What does it do?" I asked.

She didn't answer me vocally, but instead held her hand out to me, palm up, and watched me with her intense eyes. Not knowing what she wanted, I reached out to grab her hand. Just as I was about to place my hand over hers, something black shot out of her palm. A jet black dragon shaped exactly like the tattoo was now looking at me.

"Skilled mana users can manipulate the ink into different forms under their skin. It helps with mana control as one must be incredibly precise to make it move the way they want it to. Advanced manipulators can use the ink outside of their skin as a tool or a weapon." With a flick of her wrist, the ink changed and took the form of a sword.

"But it's just ink," I said, a bit dumbfounded. "How can it be used as a weapon?"

The ink then took the form of another human arm and reached towards me. It was small, like the arm of a child, but still freaked me out enough to make me fall backwards. The ink extended and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, lifting me off the ground.

"Depending on how much ink a person has, they can make it as dense or as strong as they want. Giving the ink strength, though, is an advanced technique that takes years to master."

"Woah." I watched as the ink retreated back into her skin and flowed back up her arm into its original place and form.

"If you are interested, we can try some mana manipulation now." She held her arm out towards me. A small spot of the ink moved down her arm and to her palm. Slowly, it began to disappear.

"Where'd it go?" I asked, staring stupidly at her hand.

"I pushed it down farther into my skin to make it invisible. I want you to pull it back up." She watched me expectantly.

My gaze shifted upwards and we sat there quietly for a moment. "How?"

"Let's see if you can figure it out." She chuckled.

My gaze returned to her hand and I slowly placed my palm over it. When summoning a creature, the duelist focuses all of their mana into their right hand and then into their gauntlet. Without any kind of instruction or hints as to how to bring the ink back up, I decided that my first step would be the first step when dueling as well.

Feeling the mana pool in my palm, I decided to try and push a little out and into Mai's hand. As soon as the mana left my skin, I could feel it begin to slip away from my hold. I need to figure out a way to hold the mana together while moving it outside my body. I thought of some of the spells I knew and decided that the best spell might be the veil creation one. The spell focuses concentrated mana into a single point to create the veil, so I might be able to take the focusing the mana on a single point part and push it into her hand.

I could hardly feel the bead of sweat as I began to successfully push some of my mana into her hand without losing it. Excitement began to swell in my chest as I felt my mana hit something in her hand.

"You're doing incredibly well." Mai praised. "Very few can figure out how to control their mana to that degree without instruction. Now, imagine your mana is another hand, and grab what you're feeling."

I did what she said and felt my mana surround something, as if it were an extension of my own arm. Slowly, I began to my hand up, and my mana brought small specks of black to the surface of her skin.

"Don't just raise your hand, pull your mana back into yourself." She advised.

Focusing harder on my extended mana, I began to slowly reabsorb it, as if I were siphoning mana from something. The mana returned faster than I expected. It shot out of Mai's palm, bringing some of the ink along with it, and quickly returned to my hand. Without the mana holding onto it, the ink fell and splattered on the floor.

I jumped back in surprise and Mai gasped in pain. She stepped backwards and held her hand to her chest, clenched in a tight fist. "Are you alright?" I asked, feeling terrible for hurting her.

She checked her palm and let out a small laugh. "You're more talented than I could have ever imagined! It takes a seasoned student to be able to pull the ink out of someone."

She knelt down and waved her hand over the ink, and it returned to her like a magnet. "I've changed my mind. We'll start mana control training the next time you come back. Don't think you're done with physical training, though. It takes a strong body to handle advanced mana control."

I said my goodbyes to Mai for the day and headed home, wanting to take a quick shower to wash off the layers of sweat and grime I collected on my early run. I was two blocks from home when I got a text from Gabe.

[Ray, get to the temple as fast as you can! It's time to wake the Elder and the masters want as many people as possible to keep Nadia and the Elder safe.]

Shoot, there goes my plan. [I'll be there in ten]

[Great! I'll text Allie.]

I ran home as fast as I could, jumped in the shower and scrubbed off as much of the sweat and grime as I could in two minutes. I threw on some fresh clothes and ran out the door as fast as I could.

 **Gabe's Pov**

Once everyone got to the temple, the plan was laid out. There would be two cars and Maria on her motorcycle. Wade, Nadia, Chavez and I would be in one car, and Kimora, Jaha, Allie, and Ray would be in the second. Maria would take up the front, followed by the car I was in, and the second car would bring up the rear. That way, Nadia would be safely sandwiched in the middle of multiple duelists if something, or someone, tried to interfere.

Originally, Wade was going to be the only one accompanying her to the place, but with the Choten once again on the loose, the masters weren't taking any chances.

Once we got to the location, Nadia would open the "gate" to the Elder's hideout, and she and Wade would go in while the rest of us guard the entrance. As we were getting debriefed, I couldn't tear my eyes off of my mentor.

Her naturally paler skin was now unnaturally white, as if all the life had been drained from her face, and her eyes were distant and seemed to be darker than usual. She was not wearing her normal blue riding leathers or her black coat, but was wearing a long sleeve shirt, jeans, and was holding a long, black, shawl tightly around herself. Occasionally, her entire body would shiver and she would attempt in vain to pull the shawl tighter.

Maria stood close to her sister, keeping her hands on the older woman's shoulders as if to keep her from falling out of the chair. Chavez stood nearby, but whenever he tried to inch closer, Maria would shoot him a glance that I was surprised didn't kill him on the spot. Wade stood across the room, but wouldn't- or couldn't- tear his eyes from her.

I exchanged a glance with Ray and Allie, and I could see similar thoughts run through their minds. The masters were willing to allow one of themselves to go through such an experience without any idea if it would work or not. They made it clear that everyone was willing to sacrifice their own lives for the world, but seeing Nadia now really hits that point home.

When we stood up to leave, Chavez and Maria walked on either side of the water master, helping her to walk. The rest of us went ahead of then as it would take a bit for the weakened woman to get back through the temple, even with help.

As we waited in the car, I looked to Wade. "I remember when Master Chavez had to siphon mana from the fire monarch. He could barely move and was hot to the touch. I kind of thought something similar would happen to Nadia."

"Siphoning mana from a monarch is instantaneous. The body immediately takes on almost ten times the amount of mana it usually holds. Storing away massive amounts of mana can have devastating effects on the body, but the Siphon hardly ever lasts a day. Nadia has been storing mana for almost two months, and its slowly starting to tear her body down from the inside out. As soon as they get here, we'll need to hurry and get this over with before there is any permanent damage."

When the three got out of the temple, Maria ran to her motorcycle and threw her helmet on. Chavez helped Nadia into the front seat before getting in the back with me. Once everyone was settled, Wade turned on the earpiece in his ear.

"We're ready. Lead the way, Maria." Wade said.

Maria revved her engine and pulled out, and the rest of us followed. She led us to the edge of town to the bluffs where the highway ran on. We continued down this small trail to the shore and stopped right before the sand. There, everyone got out of the cars and Maria put up her kickstand.

"So, what now?" Allie asked as she walked up to us.

"Now," Wade paused as Nadia walked away from the group. "Nad takes over."

We followed her across the sand towards the rocky bluffs, stopping before a particularly smooth part of the wall. Reaching out, she placed her right hand on the wall and pushed some mana into it.

"Is this it?" Ray asked. "Is this the place?"

No one answered. Everyone was locked onto Nadia as she turned and headed towards the shoreline. Once at the water's edge, she knelt down and placed her hand in the water.

"What is she…" Allie trailed off as the water began to glow.

"Is that mana?" Ray asked.

Again, his question went unanswered as we watched the master scoop up some of the water in her hands and brought it to her lips. She seemed to whisper something to it, causing it to glow even brighter. Once she returned the brightly glowing water to the ocean, it seemed to stay together. The next wave that rolled in was very unnatural. It seemed to move against the usual flow of the ocean. It crawled far past the shoreline all the way to the smooth rock wall near us and then began to climb up the wall and form some strange shapes and symbols.

The symbols aligned themselves into what seemed to be the shape of a doorway and some water pooled at the middle. Then, the glowing water began to travel up the shoreline as well. It followed the trails of waters up to the center of the water door. Once there, it took the shape of the water civilization symbol.

The other symbols began to glow as well, and seemed to start to eat through the rock, carving out a door that suddenly fell through the sand.

Everyone stared wordlessly for a moment, and then looked to Nadia, who was now walking back towards the doorway.

"Well, here we go." Allie let out a small, nervous breath.

"Gabe," Jaha turned to me. "Since you're Nadia's apprentice, you can go with them, but only if you want to."

I blinked for a moment, and then turned and watched as Nadia walked past us and headed straight into the doorway.

"I'll go." I looked to Wade, who nodded before walking after the water master.

Just before he entered, Maria grabbed his arm.

"I need you to do something for me." Maria locked her eyes with his. "I need you to keep my sister safe."

Wade turned to face Maria and placed his fist on his chest. "I can't promise that she'll come out alive, but I'll promise you this. I'll bring her back to you no matter what."

And with that, Wade headed in after Nadia, and I followed.

 **Allie's Pov**

To keep them safe, Kimora summoned Shouter and had him move a large boulder in front of the doorway. Wade would contact us with his earpiece when they were ready to leave.

"So," I began. "How long do you think this'll take?"

I hardly had the sentence out of my mouth when we heard a _plunk_ , followed by three more of the same sound. We all turned out heads to the ocean at the first sound, and watched as three black objects fell into the water, creating the exact same sound as the first.

Only one word flew through my brain as I made the connection.

 _Bomb._

And then, the water blew up.


	19. Chapter 19

**Allie's Pov**

Shouter grabbed and shielded as many of us as he could, but Maria and Jaha were pushed into the wall from the impact. Maria cried out in pain but was drowned out by Shouter's trumpet as he was banished back to the kaiju realm.

We hardly had any time to get out senses before multiple creatures jumped down from the cliff and cornered us against the rock wall.

"Well, well, well," A very familiar voice came from above. "What do we have here?"

All of us looked up to see the Choten, Tierra, and several of their goons hovering just above us on their flying pads.

The masters didn't spare any time summoning their creatures, and Ray and I quickly followed. Maria struggled to her feet as she pulled her hair away from her face, revealing a deep gash on her left temple that ran past her hairline.

"Oh _hell_ no!" Maria growled through her teeth as she grabbed at her titan ring. " _Light speed-"_

The woman was cut off when meteor dragon blasted a fireball at her. Gillaflame barely managed to get her out of the way before she was roasted alive.

I heard Bob roar and I looked over to see Ray run up the dragon's back before taking off. Chaos erupted around us as all of our creatures began to fight their hardest to defend the cave.

All of the Choten's creatures were clearly evolved and were much more powerful than ours. We really need some more power to fight off this many creatures. I turned to look for Maria. She was just about to summon the muscle we needed, but was cut off.

When I spotted the woman who was now barely holding herself up against the rock wall, I realized that it was up to me. I quickly whipped out my necklace and tore off my titan ring.

" _Kura Kitsune, the Murderer!"_

Kura launched himself out of the ring, unintentionally smashing into several enemy creatures and knocking them into the sea. He let out a terrible roar and fanned out his nine tails.

"Kura," I shouted up to him. "We need to protect this cliff. Don't let anyone or anything past you!"

"Understood." He snarled, baring his long fangs.

Even with Kura, we were having a hard time fending off at least fifteen evolved kaiju. I could tell we need more help, so I ran for Maria. She was no longer holding herself up, but resting on the rock wall. Half of her hair on the left side of her head was now red with blood and I could tell she wasn't doing well.

"Maria!" I called out to her, but she only moaned in response, holding her head in her hands. I knelt beside her and inspected the wound, and was more than a little shocked to see exposed bone. If the cut was this bad, she for sure had a concussion. She needed medical care yesterday.

I turned to look for help, but knew we wouldn't be getting any. Chavez had evolved Gillaflame and was calling someone, probably Isao for backup, Jaha was just now recovering from the blast and summoning her creature, Kimora had summoned and evolved a terrasaur to guard the ground, and Ray was busy holding onto Bob's back for dear life as they evaded another dragon.

I began to panic, and then suddenly remembered the disastrous fishing trip we had last year. When Ray's grandfather fell and hurt himself, he panicked and summoned his father who had been fused with a particular creature.

" _Humonculon the blaster!"_

I summoned the small, spiderlike creature and command it to wrap its webs around Maria's wound. I could tell she was already feeling relief from the injury from the sigh she let out and how her shoulders relaxed.

I turned and watched as Kura swatted away a dragon while also wrapping up Flame tropus in his long tails to restrict its movement. While he was a massive creature, the evolved rock brute was not much shorter than and probably twice as heavy as Kura. I wanted to help him as he struggled to keep the fire creature away from the others, but there wasn't much else I could do.

Summoning a titan is really draining. It doesn't feel like it at first, but now it feels like I'm out of breath. Kura roared and lurched towards the ocean, dragging the fire creature into the water after him. It screamed as if the water was burning it and spewed a mouthful of lava at Kura.

"Kura, watch out!" I shouted.

I don't know how he heard me over the chaos of the fighting, but he did. Kura quickly glanced at me before noticing the lava heading directly for one of his long tails. He released the flame tropus and moved his tails out of the way while quickly turning around and socking the kaiju in the jaw.

He glanced back at me and made eye contact. Kura gave me a curt nod and I smiled back at him. For now, I guess, I can watch Kura's back while he defends all of ours.

 **Gabe's Pov**

We could hear the chaos outside even after following the tunnel several meters down into the earth. I wanted to turn back and help, but it was too late now. Just to be safe, Wade and I summoned our creatures. He summoned Tigershark and Rusalka while I summoned Gargle and Switchscale. Rusalka hung close to her partner, gargle climbed into my backpack, and the two larger creatures followed us closely.

As we continued down deeper into the tunnel, the air temperature seemed to drop several degrees. The only thing that lit the rock walls was the small streams of glowing water, which was now starting to freeze over as we got deeper.

"Wade, why is this water glowing?" I asked.

"You remember how Nad pushed some mana into the rock wall before we entered? The glow in the water is her mana lighting the path we need to take to find the creature. You probably didn't notice since it was so dark, but we've passed many other tunnels that weren't lit at all. This tunnel is just one of a maze used to keep the kaiju safe." He explained.

The ground beneath us shook a little and we exchanged a worried glance. "Isn't there any way we can help them?" I looked back.

"No. We're here right now because the masters assumed something like this would happen. We're Nadia's last line of defense, so we need to stay with her." Wade placed a hand on my shoulder. Even in the dimly lit tunnel, I could see the worry in his eyes.

After some time, I noticed an actual light at the end of the tunnel. We finally exited the tunnel and found ourselves in a cave with a glowing, aqua colored lake. All of us paused for a moment at the mouth of the cave, and then Nadia continued forwards to the edge of the water.

She knelt down and touched the water with her fingertips before sitting down and taking up a meditative position. Wade and I slowly approached while the creatures hung back. As we drew closer, I noticed the water was reacting to her touch. It bubbled and began to change color from aqua to a darker blue.

"That lake is full of mana infused water from the creature. Inner mana to be specifically. The color of its inner mana apparently is this aqua color while Nadia's is the dark blue." Wade explained.

"So, now what do we do?" I asked.

"We wait. It's going to take some time for her to send out enough mana to start searching, and when that happens, it could take hours to search this entire lake. Heck, it could take the entire day if its deeper than I think it is." Wade rubbed the back of his neck as he sat down.

I followed suit and let Gargle out of my bag. Rusalka finally entered the cave and coiled herself around Nadia and resting her head on the ground. Switchscale and Tigershark guarded the entrance while we sat there in silence.

 **Ray's Pov**

Man was it good to have a titan on our side. With so many evolved enemy creatures, it would have been hard keeping all of them at bay, but Kura was easily knocking around the smaller creatures and was keeping the bigger ones busy as well. Unfortunalty, there was just too many for him to handle at once, so we tried to help when we could.

Bob weaved around some of the larger dragons, trying to keep their attention off the ground where several of the Choten's goons were trying to get past Kimora and Allie. Squeaky, Gillaflame, and the terrasaur were handling the creatures on the ground well, but the sky was a different story.

Bob, Blackfeather, and the now evolved Squeaky were the only creatures of ours that could fly, but Kura was tall enough that it didn't exactly matter if he could fly or not. Even with the four of us fighting together, we were no match against the other fifteen creatures.

"Bob, head's up!" I shouted as an evolved dragon tried to dive bomb us. He lowered his left wing and we just barely got out of the way before the dragon almost crashed into the ocean. That gave me an idea. "Keep close to the water, Bob. When anything tries to dive bomb us we can send them straight into the ocean!"

"Or, we can do this!" Bob roared as he unleashed his chains and caught the dragon by its foot. Using the strength in his wings and his body weight, Bob threw the creature into the water before sending several rockets in after it. The dragon screamed as it was banished back to the creature realm.

"Alright!" I cheered. Looking around, my excitement faded fast as I realized that it was one down, fourteen more to go. "Let's get moving, we need to banish as many as we can."

We circled back around towards the beach and Bob proceeded to blast a couple other creatures out of the sky. Unfortunately, evolved creatures were a heck of a lot sturdier than non-evolved creatures, so they weren't banished. Fortunately, though, they had to go through Gillaflame to get off the ground again.

Just as we were about to circle around, I heard Allie scream. "Kura!" I turned and watched as an evolved Squillance Scource wrapped its tentacles around Kura's right arm and body and bit his shoulder. He howled in pain and stumbled backwards, allowing the Flametropus he was holding with his tails to struggle free.

"We have to help him!" I shouted. Bob grumbled something to himself, but charged forwards anyways. I knew how he felt about his father, but I also know how it feels to have someone take your father away from you. I didn't even know or trust him that much when I found out that Saguru was my father, but I was devastated when the Choten took him from me again.

Bob flung his chains at the water hybrid and attempted to pull the creature away, but it was easily several times his size. No matter how hard he pulled, it was useless. Bob just wasn't strong enough. Blood began to stream from Kura's shoulder and I was surprised that he wasn't banished at this point.

Finally, something seemed to snap in Kura. He lurched forwards and pulled up his nine tails. The orange fur at the tips of his tails turned black, and he plunged them into the ocean. Suddenly, nine shadow tails erupted from the water in front of the two. The shadows turned into eight hands and a strange mouth filled with shadowy teeth. The mouth crunched, and I mean _crunched_ , down on Squillance's head. The creature screamed as it was banished immediately.

The other shadowy, clawed, hands caught Flametropus as it desperately attempted to return to dry land. As Kura turned towards the creatures, I noticed that its eyes were no longer a brilliant green, but a fiery red. He took in a deep breath and closed his mouth.

"Ray, hold on!" Bob suddenly banked to the side and flew away from the enraged titan.

I latched onto the chain on Bob's back and turned to watch as Kura's cheeks puffed out like a chipmunks. Finally, the titan opened his mouth and out rocketed a black and magma red mass of energy. The shadowy hands held the rock brute in place so it couldn't run from the attack.

The energy ball blew right through the fire creature and continued towards the bluffs, taking out a few other creatures along the way. The attack smashed into the rock wall, carving out a perfectly round hole in the bluffs.

Dust and large boulders began to tumble down the rockface and towards Allie, Maria, and the Masters. I called out a warning, but was cut off by another shout.

" _Light Speed Leviathan!"_

Maria's titan burst through the enlarged titan ring with a terrible screech. Without direction, the light titan used its detached wings and spines to blast and push away the rocks that were about to crush everyone on the shore.

Unfortunately, Kura's attack had left what we were defending vulnerable. The cave entrance that was once blocked was now open for the world to see.

"Oh crap." I said while somewhere in the distance I heard Maria say the more explicit version followed by a couple more swears directed at both Kura and the Choten.

The sudden use of two powerful attacks left Kura exhausted, but he was still willing to fight. He fell on all fours and raised his tails threateningly, placing himself between the majority of the Choten's creature. Maria commanded light to fight with Kura while the masters called their creatures back to defend the cave.

Bob and I stayed and fought with Kura and Light, but we couldn't hold all of them at bay. There were still many powerful, evolved creatures, and while fighting them, the Choten and Tierra managed to sneak past us. As exhausted as Kura was, he was still strong enough to hold his own in a fight, and Light was expertly zipping around and smacking as many creatures out of the sky as it could.

I wasn't watching when it happened. All I know is that there was a loud shout followed closely by a roar and a big crash. When I turned around, the masters and their creatures had been knocked away, maria and Allie were nowhere in sight, and the Choten was walking into the tunnel with Tierra while an evolved Sword Horned guarded the entrance.


	20. Chapter 20

I can't apologize enough for taking so long to write this next chapter. Things will really be picking up around here so I'm gonna really try to be better about posting chapters to this story.

 **Liz** \- all questions will be answered eventually. I'm glad you enjoy it so much and I hope it live up to your expectations!

 **Allie's Pov**

The Choten hadn't even hit the ground when he summoned the giant light/nature hybrid. The ground shook as it landed on the sand, causing me to fall. Maria ran to me and pulled me up and out of the way of its giant hooves.

"I'd suggest you move out of the way." The Choten called out to the masters.

"Never!" Chavez commanded Gillaflame to jump behind the Choten.

Just when the drakon was about to grab him, Sword Horned smashed Gillaflame out of the way with his shield, banishing the fire creature. The beast kin took a small step forwards and pulled his other arm back, raising its other shield.

"Masters!" I screamed as it brought the shield down. I tried to run towards them, but Maria held me back.

Sand and stone flew everywhere from the impact. The dust hadn't even settled when a large shadow fell over Maria and me. I looked up just in time to see Sword horned's great hand come down from above us.

Maria tried to throw me out of the way, but it was no use. The kaiju scooped both of us up and held us firmly in its hand.

"Now, Allison," It lowered the two of us down to the Choten's level as he and Tierra jumped off their flying platform. "This beast will crush you and your friend unless you banish your titans. Catch their attention and call them off, or both of you will die."

With that, the hybrid turned away from the Choten to face the ongoing battle. It let out a terrible cry that called the battle to a halt. Kura whipped around and froze when he noticed me in the hands of the Sword Horned. Light let out a shriek when it noticed us and twisted around in an upset rage.

"Allie, Maria!" I turned at Ray's shout.

Looking back to the Choten, I saw that he was already on his way down into the tunnel with Tierra and a few other goons of his.

"Ray, follow the Choten!" Maria called out. We'll be fine!"

Bob hesitated for a moment. I knew he wanted to help us, but he also knew that we needed to stop the Choten.

A low, ragged voice startled us all. " _Let them go."_

Maria and I whipped around and found that the voice had come from Kura. The majority of his facial fur had turned black and his eyes were a dangerous red. Baring his ivory teeth, he took a threatening step forwards. "Let them go!"

Kura let out a terrible roar of anger and frustration at the fact that the hybrid did not do as he commanded. It was then that I noticed his tails were still in the water. Nine shadowy tails burst out of the ground at Sword Horned's feet and snaked around its body. The creature was so surprised that it loosened its grip on us.

Maria took the opportunity and pulled herself out of its grasp and dragged me along with her. I was about to ask what she wanted to do next since we were standing on the hand of a three story tall creature, but I never got the chance. A shove from behind sent my flying off the creature. Maria jumped after me, and just before we hit the ground, Light dove under us and we grabbed onto his back.

Now that we were out of the creature's grasp, Kura lunged forwards to face Sword Horned. As Light carried the two of us away from the two giant kaiju, I looked back and saw Ray, who had jumped off of Bob's back, and Chavez race into the cave after the Choten.

When Light finally brought us down to the ground, Maria hesitated, as if she didn't know what to do, and I knew exactly why.

"Go." I urged her. "We'll be fine out here, go help Nadia."

She gave me a grateful smile and summoned Dragon Mare. She jumped onto her creature's back and the two took off towards the cave.

Kimora and Jaha raced towards me. "We need to keep anyone else from entering that cave." Kimora stated, preparing to summon another creature.

"The titans are a great help, but I don't think we'll be able to hold them off for much longer." Jaha began to gather mana for a spell.

Kura finally managed to banish Sword Horned and turned back to the ocean. "In the name of the Firefoxes and the Kitsune, we will not lose!" He roared.

Bob flew down towards us. "We need to take out the duelists." I shouted as I reached for Bob. He helped me climb onto his back. "Then they won't be able to summon more creatures!"

Together, we prepared to hold our ground.

 **Gabe's Pov**

I knew the loud crash wasn't a good sign. The cave shook and large rocks began to fall from the ceiling. Tigershark and Switchscale began to snarl in anticipation. Wade and I exchanged a look, and both of us knew that the tunnel had been compromised.

Jumping up, Wade pulled out his titan ring. "We can't take any chances. _Ahool!"_ The creature headed to the top of the cave, waiting in the shadows of the stalactites.

Rusalka hissed in anger, baring her long teeth, but she refused to leave Nadia's side. In total, we have four creatures, a titan, and two functioning duelists… I'm sure this will end well…

Looking back at the lake, I was surprised to find that it had turned a dark blue. Because of how large it was, I was surprised to see how much mana Nadia had been able to gather. Wade saw my surprise and decided to explain what was happening while we waited for someone to come down.

"Nadia sent in enough mana to make a thin layer over the water. It may be incredibly thin, but her consciousness will still be able to search every inch of it. She'll be able to push down her layer of mana into the water and methodically check every inch of the lake from the top up."

"But that'll take forever!" I cried.

"It's the best way to do this." Wade sighed. "This method could also kill her though. It would be easy to sever the mana line between her consciousness and her body. Just move her body an inch to the left and she's as good as dead."

"Is there anything we can do to keep her from moving?" A feeling of dread formed like a rock in my stomach.

"Not that I know of. All we can do is keep her body safe from whoever comes down that tunnel-."

Wade was cut off by the screech of a rapids lurker. Neither of us had the time to react as it came straight for us. Luckily, Slipstream intercepted the creature. The two creatures wrestled on the ground of the cave for a moment before Slipstream chomped down on the water creature's neck, banishing it immediately.

We were prepared for the second lurker, even though it was evolved. Ahool screamed like a banshee as he dropped down from the ceiling and smashed the water creature's head into the ground. Evolved as it was, the rapids lurker banished immediately.

"Impressive, Wade," A familiar voice praised, followed by a highly insulting slow clap. "But a single titan will not help you."

Just as the Choten and Tierra entered the cave, the two summoned Trox and Meteor dragon. The two giant kaiju reached for the titan at once. Ahool might be large enough to carry Wade, but he was still small. One of either of the massive creature's hands could have wrapped around him, but his size gave him the advantage.

Reaching out with his left wing, he hooked his large claw on the rocky floor and pulled himself out of the way. Howling with rage, Ahool lunged for the evolved darkness creature while Wade commanded Tigershark to attack Meteor dragon. Switchscale finally banished the water creature and I attempted to command him to help Tigershark, but he refused to listen to me. Instead, he lunged for the Choten.

"Switchscale!" I shouted. The Choten put up a shield and the fire creature clawed at it relentlessly. The duelist chuckled at the attempt.

"Switchscale dragon, hmm?" He mused. "I remember making Nadia use this creature extensively. I see you haven't learned its secret yet. Unfortunately for you, I know all of this particular creature's tricks, and its strength."

Forcing his mana shield out, he pushed away Switchscale easily. The creature snarled and thrashed its tail about.

"Switchscale!" I called out to the creature again. I was intrigued that the dragon had secrets, but this was not the time or place for curiosity.

The two summoned two more creatures, an evolved Blastforge Marauder and a Venom Worm. How the two managed to summon such powerful creatures was beyond me.

Wade followed suit and summoned treetop dragon and I summoned Storm seeker. All together, we had five creatures and a titan, and they had four incredibly strong and evolved creatures.

This was going to be one heck of a fight.

Wade and I placed ourselves in front of Nadia and began commanding our creatures.

Ahool took to the air and let out an ear piercing shriek attack that seemed to disorient Trox while Tigershark darted in between the massive dragon's legs. Slipstream continued to go after the Choten until the Blastforge marauder knocked him away. Then, all of the dragon's rage turned on the Drakon. With a low hiss, Rusalka left Nadia and began to attack the Venom Worm. Gargle began building a small machine, but it would take time before it was finished.

Despite their best efforts, our creatures were unable to fight such a force. Tigershark darted behind Meteor dragon and jumped for the fire creature's back. Unfortunately, the dragon saw out of the corner of its eye and lashed its tail, smashing into the water nature hybrid and pinning him to the ground. Slipstream managed to banish the drakon and began to help Rusalka, but both creatures were much smaller and neither of them were a match for an evolved Venom worm. Ahool was handling Trox, but that was it.

In the chaos, neither Wade nor I noticed that the Choten was walking towards us. To Nadia. When we did notice, Wade rushed forwards.

"You best get the hell away from us!" He shouted, drawing his arm back to punch the Choten. Wade was a strong man, and he always has been. I remember hearing stories about him breaking his mother's ribs before he was born, and breaking his dad's nose by accidentally head butting him when he was two months old. I've heard even more stories about how he kick boxed and dead lifted for years until he wanted to become a surgeon. One punch from Wade and the Choten would be out for a week.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be getting to see my cousin deck an evil supervillain. The Choten quickly sidestepped Wade and put something on his back. It was round and had barbs that stuck into my cousin's back. I opened my mouth to shout a warning, but my words were knocked out of me as I watched Wade get electrocuted.

Ahool turned and screamed at Wade's unconscious form, distracting him from Trox, and allowing the darkness creature to grab his back leg. The hybrid was slammed onto the ground and then into the wall before he was released again.

The Choten continued to walk towards me, and towards a defenseless Nadia. Gargle finally finished his weapon and raised it up at the man.

"Take this bad man!" Gargle squeaked, firing the weapon.

That, unfortunately, didn't work either. The Choten raised his gauntlet and put up a shield. It was then that I noticed his gauntlet was different. It seemed bulkier and had exposed glowing wires. The stones that the weapon fired ricocheted harmlessly off the shield and shot back at us.

I raised my own shield, but the stones pierced through it easily. One stone shot straight back at Gargle and banished him instantly. I cried out for him, but I couldn't focus on that long. The Choten was still making his way towards us.

Suddenly, there was a sound. Every alert living thing in the cave paused at the sound of a distant scream that was slowly getting louder and louder. Three of the Choten's goons threw themselves into the cave and out of the way of Maria's dragonmare. Chavez and Ray quickly followed with their own creatures, a lava leaper and Roaming Bloodmane.

"Get away from my sister you bastard!" Maria shouted as she and her creature charged forwards.

"Meteor dragon, defend him!" Tierra commanded her creature.

The dragon knocked the young woman off her creature and to the ground, but she quickly recovered and continued running towards us. Chavez and Ray rushed towards us as well while they commanded their own creatures to attack Tierra's dragon.

"Give up, Choten!" Ray called out. "You're outnumbered _and_ outmatched!"

"I wouldn't say that-" The choten turned to his goons with a smirk, but that was quickly wiped off of his face when he noticed that the three were all cradling their right hands. All three were either missing their gloves or fingers. Looking back at the three new creatures, Bloodmane was holding two gloves and a pinky while Dragonmare had some blood on her chin.

A look of annoyance flashed over his face for a split second. He raised his gauntlet and pointed to Maria, and then to me. The creature switched its focus from banishing slipstream and Rusalka to coming after us. Out of mana to summon another creature and at a literal dead end, I put up another shield.

Time seemed to slow down as I watched the great creature bear down on Maria. She attempted to jump out of its path, but was too slow. I was just about to call out to her when Ahool swooped down from the ceiling and grabbed her, carrying her out of the way of the giant darkness creature.

The Choten stepped out of the creature's way and it turned its attention to me. Forced between a rock and a hard place, I began to pray that my shield would hold. There was a sudden force at my side and I was also pulled away from the venom worm. Slipstream had jumped in the creature's way and pulled me to safety.

Maria and I were safe, but now there was no one in between Nadia and the Choten. He continued forwards until he was right at the defenseless duel master's side.

"Nadia!" Chavez called out to her, attempting in vain to warn his loved one. Wade was finally beginning to come to, but was still too out of it to help.

"Little Nadia, always trying to help. I should have done this a long time ago." The Choten sighed.

No one was close enough to stop him. He grabbed Nadia's arm and pulled her up and away from her meditation spot. As soon as she was moved, her body fell limp. The Choten seemed surprised at the reaction, but quickly shrugged it off and tossed her body forwards. Right into the lake of mana.

Maria's shriek echoed through the cave. Rusalka bravely attempted to follow the master into the water, but was banished as soon as she came into contact with the lake's surface. Chavez also attempted to go after Nadia, but Bloodmane grabbed him before he could even get close to the water. Maria struggled to break free of Ahool's grip, sobbing uncontrollably and continuing to cry out for her sister. I was unable to move. My brain couldn't seem to process what my eyes had seen.

It was a good thing that Wade was already down, because nothing would have stopped him from following his childhood friend into the water. Chavez and Maria were restrained, and I was frozen to the spot. No one grabbed Ray though.

My brain already couldn't process Nadia getting thrown into the water, so all I could do was watch as Ray ran past the Choten and dove in after her.

 **Ruby eye's cave**

The tidal hunter's eyes shot open as the vision of her beloved Nadia being thrown into a lake of mana infused water. Flashes of Maria screaming also consumed her mind and the terrible smirk of August as he watched the woman sink beneath the water.

A snarl escaped her lips and the fins on her back rose dangerously.


	21. Chapter 21

I hope you all had a fantastic holiday season and are now having a great new year! I am going to make a new year's resolution to be more consistent with posting chapters for both of my main stories and try to go back to some ones I've left behind. I really want to finish as many stories as I can this year and you guys can hold me to this. Thanks again for reading and I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

Liz- this has to be my favorite review of all time. I hope you enjoy this chapter and the rest of the story once I finish it!

* * *

Ray's Pov

I couldn't even begin to process how bad of an idea trying to save Nadia was. As soon as my body was fully submerged, a searing pain blasted through my head. All the air I had collected in my lungs screamed out of my mouth and the precious resourced streamed past my face as bubbles. My eyes clenched shut as I felt my body sink farther into the lake of pain.

After a few moments, the pain began to dull. I thought I was losing consciousness, but after a long wait, I realized I wasn't going to pass out. Slowly, I opened my eyes, and was completely shocked.

I was still in a cave, but I was floating just above the lake of mana. Looking around, I expected to see everyone else watching me with the same shock I felt, but no one else was around. Looking up, I was very surprised not to see a rocky roof, but water. A blurry face was looking down upon us for a moment, and then disappeared. It was like looking up at someone from the bottom of a pool.

I gently drifted down to the water's surface and found it was solid. Looking around, I was now feeling more confused than mystified.

"Hello?" I called out. The sound echoed strangely in the cave, slowly becoming more distorted as it faded.

After calling out, I felt as if something- or someone, was watching me. Looking down at the water below me, I found a glowing pair of eyes staring back. Jumping back, I fell, slightly disturbing the calm surface of the water. Slowly, a creature's head rose out of the water, followed by its long neck and body.

The creature had pale, desaturated blue skin. It's body was like a giant tortoise. It's head was longer and more angular like a dragon's, but it had a large, blue-black shell that had branching but dulled spines. Though wrinkled as it was, I could make out some scales on its face and two short, broken horns, as well as its four legs, that were like a blend between a sea turtle's and a tortoise.

The creature stared at me with its blind, light blue eyes. I would think it couldn't see me, but something about the creature told me that this relic could see far more than I ever could. I waited for it to say something, but we just continued to "stare" at each other.

"Uhh, hi." I began, slowly getting to my feet after a time. "My name's Ray, and uhh, where are we? And where's Master Nadia? Also, who are you?

"You ask many questions, child." A low, masculine voice answered even though the creature's mouth didn't move. "My name has been lost to time. It is just as meaningless to you as it is to me. As to where you are, I have absorbed your consciousness into my mind along with your Master Nadia's."

"But every creature needs a name!" I began. "What else will I call you?"

The creature didn't respond immediately. "You may call me the Water Elder."

"Wait, you're the water elder?! I thought you were supposed to be asleep, and that Nadia had to wake you." I asked, more than a little surprised.

"She did. Your water master quickened her search the moment battle broke out in the cave above. Had she found me a moment later, the two of you would be dead." He replied.

"Woah…" I breathed. Too much was happening at once, so all I could do was give such a dumb response to probably the smartest creature alive. Thinking back on the things he quickly explained, I realized something.

"Wait, if you absorbed Nadia's consciousness too, where is she?" I looked around the cave again.

"She is there." The creature motioned behind me. Even though I just looked, I turned around and watched the back wall of the cave morph into a wall of transparent water. Through it, I could see Master Nadia speaking to the same creature that I was talking to now.

"How?" I stumbled.

"I wished to speak to you two individually." He replied simply, when he saw the same question on my face again, he assumed- or knew, what I was thinking. "I can hold several individual conversations at one time."

"Oh." Well, this was going well. I was still so blown away by everything that had happened in just a few moments that I couldn't seem to form questions.

"Fear not, child. Your mind is having difficulties functioning as fast as it normally would because it feels as if it is being invaded. Your Master Nadia's mind has little problem keeping up with me, so she has had much experience with similar mental abilities. Since you are having such trouble, I assume this is your first time your mind has been invaded in such a way. It may help by recalling how you came here and why. It will allow your mind to grow accustom to mine, and we will be able to communicate better."

"Okay then…" I unconsciously touched my head and gathered my thoughts as best I could. My explanation started out a little slow and strange, and I had to constantly backtrack. After a while though, I was able to think and speak in a more consistent way. It wasn't how fast I normally thought or spoke, but it'll have to do for now.

After I finished my story, the creature stayed quiet for a moment. "I commend your chivalry, child. It was noble of you to try and save your master, but your rashness and lack of forethought nearly costed you your life. The pain you felt when you touched the water was just a fraction of what you would have felt if I hadn't been awoken. You're lucky your master caught a glimpse of you diving in after her, or I would have left you to die."

"I'm… sorry?" I couldn't tell if he was complimenting me, insulting me, or threatening me. I think it might be a mixture of both. Another bout of uncomfortable silence followed.

"I guess Nadia is asking you about what we came here for, right?" I finally asked.

"She wants to know how to fix the ley lines." He replied bluntly.

"So… do you happen to know why they aren't working in the first place?"

"Yes."

"… Will you tell me why?" I pressed.

"Your master has already asked this, but I shall explain it to you as well. The ley lines are the mana filled veins of Earth. It takes massive amounts of energy to disrupt them. Like the energy needed to create a veil." He began.

"Wait, so did we disrupt the ley lines?" I asked, thinking back to when we created a new veil to keep the kaiju world separate from ours.

"You were only partially at fault." He replied. "The first disturbance came when the old masters and the monarchs created the first veil. It shook the lines down to their very core, but because it was fairly stable, the lines have held for generations. They were shaken again when your 'new veil' patched the old one. I'm afraid that they were severely disturbed at this last patching. Even now, I can feel them tremble below me."

"So what can we do?" If we caused the problems with the lines, we have a responsibility to fix them.

"At this point, a simple realignment spell will fix them temporarily." The creature looked up at the surface.

Following its gaze, I couldn't see anything that it might have seen or felt, so I pressed him. "Temporarily? Can't we fix them for good?"

"There is only one way to fix the ley lines that would not mean doom to the kaiju and human worlds. A new, perfect veil must be created. One that can bend, but will never break."

"A perfect veil? Wasn't the old one already perfect?" I tilted my head slightly, very surprised and confused at his words.

"It was not even close to being perfect. All spells you know now were created by fairies, beings that were a perfect blend of both human and creature. To create a perfect veil, the monarchs and the old masters needed to work in perfect unison with one another just as the creature and human magic in fairies worked together. The masters betrayed the monarchs, and the blend was thrown off balance. The veil would have faded eventually, had it not been torn apart by a madman."

"Wait, you know about the Choten?" I asked, now definitely more than a little surprised.

"How could I not? He has continued to threaten my kind and has now invaded my cave and attempted murder using my mana. My body may have been sleeping since the veil has been created, but my mind has not." He let out a low grumble.

"You've been asleep since when?! If you've been asleep that long, wouldn't the Monarch's be elders too?" I tried to joke.

"The monarchs are centuries younger than me, boy." He lowered his head until his eyes were just above my head. "I am an elder because even the civilizations were created after my birth."

I simply stared at him in shock. The masters and other creatures always made it seem as if the five civilizations always existed. I had never even thought to consider that there might have been a time before them.

"When I was born, there were no civilizations to divide up the creature world. We were powerful beasts that kept to their own species until the day came when some of my species found that there were other creatures that dwelled in water held similar abilities and thoughts. The same was happening all over the earth, creating alliances and factions between clans and tribes. In their prime, the Monarchs were warlords. They conquered thousands and created their civilizations and borders and defended them ruthlessly." The creature paused for a moment and let out a long sigh. "There were few of us who decided that we would not bend to the wills of creatures younger than us. Ones who wanted to force us to abide by rules based on what traits and abilities we held. We were renegades who constantly had to stay on the run or be executed for not conforming to the will of others."

"Is this why you're in hiding? But then why do they call you elders instead of something more fitting to a renegade?" I asked.

"Because after a few thousand years, you begin to earn respect from old age. Just before the monarchs were sealed away, I finally grew tired of running. I allowed myself to be captured by a group of tidal hunters and brought before King Tritonus. He commended me for my abilities and age. Instead of killing me, he imprisoned me for a short time and asked me to tell him stories of the time when the civilizations didn't exist. It was then that I found that the new generations of creatures, and even the monarchs, were beginning to forget that there once was a time without nations. He eventually released me and gave me the title of Water Elder. I never desired to be a part of the water civilization, or any civilization, but I was unable to ever shake such a title."

"How did you end up here?

"During thte Kaiju wars, I knew when the end was coming. I heard whispers that a spell would split the earth in two. One for creatures and another for humans. I had no desire to leave my familiar waters, so I hollowed out this cave and removed nearly all the mana from my body so I could remain after the veil creation spell spirited the rest of the creatures away."

There was a sudden commotion above us that caused me to jump. "What was that?!" I cried.

"It seems as if the battle above has come to a head. It is time I greet the rest of the intruders in my cave." He grumbled, his wrinkly lips pulled back into an odd snarl.

Bubbles began to quickly form around me. I felt my feet begin to lift above the water as even more bubbles emerged from the water's surface and fly up above me. They continued to lift me towards the water's surface as I scrambled so keep myself balanced. Not knowing what else to say to the creature I called out. "Wait! I still don't know your name!"

The creature's head lifted as I continued to rise to the surface. It's blind eyes seemed to lock with mine, if that was even possible. "My name is still meaningless to you, but you may call me by my breed, as I am the last."

"Then what are you?" I shouted down as bubbles surrounded my vision.

"I am Dragonturtoise, and you have my favor. May it give you wisdom and thoughtfulness. Seek the other elders and gain their favor as well. You shall need it to save us all."

The cave disappeared as water filled my lungs and something hard rammed into my body. Unable to breathe and still in immense pain, I welcomed the darkness as I passed out.

 **Allie's Pov**

Something in my chest suddenly tightened and a sense of dread quickly formed in my gut. Looking back towards the cave, I just knew something went wrong, especially when Bob banished back to the creature realm without getting hit. Unfortunately, I couldn't focus on that. These goons just kept summoning creature after creature. The masters and I were all completely out of mana and our only two creatures standing were the titans, Kura and Light, who were both visibly tiring out.

"Kura, watch out!" I shouted as a dragon dove behind his head and unleashed a blast of fire at his head.

The flames seemed to barely tickle his orange and black fur. Kura quickly whipped around blasted it with his own fiery breath. Despite the dragon being a creature of fire, it was banished immediately at the flood of heat, and Kura returned to fighting other creatures that were within his reach.

"This battle has gone on far too long!" Kura snarled in frustration as he watched another creature get summoned. Suddenly, the hybrid titan turned his attention towards one of the floating platforms. Jumping up, he slashed at the platform, making the people on it abandon ship to avoid getting crushed.

The two duelists screamed as they fell into the water, and neither surfaced again. I stared at the water in horror, completely caught off guard at what Kura had done. Before I could get a single word out, the battle suddenly stopped. All creatures froze mid dodge or attack and turned to stare out at the horizon. Even Kura, who was seething with anger, looked out past the water and froze.

"What?" I looked between Kura, and then out to sea. "What's wrong?"

No one responded to me, but just as I asked my question, I began to hear a feint sound in the distance that began to draw closer and closer. Everyone, both human and Kaiju now watched the horizon intently as the origin of the sound began to come into view.

I wasn't able to tell what kind of a creature it was when I first noticed it, but as it gradually grew closer, I recognized the ruby red eyes and stone set in its forehead. Ruby Eye, Memory keeper, was charging towards the shore, running on top of the water and letting out terrible shrieks of rage.

"It's Ruby Eye!" I shouted, and finally, everyone began to move again.

Light shrieked and fled upwards while Kura made a desperate lunge to get out of her way. When she had neared the shore enough to send the Choten's creatures into full blown panic mode, Ruby Eye let out another ear piercing shriek. Red light exploded from the gem on her forehead, casting out several red beams that quickly found their way to the foreheads of all the enemy creatures as well as Light and Kura.

Neither of the titans were banished, but both dropped to the ground. Kura's heavy body made the ground shake and light eventually splashed down into the ocean from its long fall. Both were completely unconscious. More beams of energy shot out towards the Choten's goons, but did not knock them out like the creatues.

When they tried to summon more creatures, they couldn't seem to move their hands correctly. It was almost as if her attack made them forget how to use their arms.

The water titan paid none of us any mind as she finally reached the shore. Ruby Eye rocketed past us and launched herself down into the tunnel.

I raced to Kura, who had somehow managed to keep his head from falling into the water and tried to stir him. When I found that I couldn't, I looked back at the other masters. "What the heck was that all about?!"

 **Gabe's Pov**

 _My best friend and my master are dead._

The sentence continued to play again and again in my mind until it was just a blur of white noise. Chavez fell to his knees as Bloodmane banished back to the nature civilization. All battle ceased for what seemed like ages while everyone processed what had happened.

Slowly, the world came back to me. White noise became distinctive sounds, time began to move again as emotions erupted through the cave. Maria shrieked profanities and threats at the Choten, Wade finally roared to life, standing and lunging at the man that murdered his friend, and Chavez let out a low cry that rose in volume and strength as it also morphed from anguish to pure rage.

All hell broke loose. The Choten barely threw up a shield in time to stop Wade from completely throttling him. He commanded one of his creatures to attack my cousin, and I quickly sent Switchscale in to protect him and keep him from doing something stupid.

Chavez tried to get to the Choten, but Tierra got in the way. Unfortunately for her the respectable fire master was not bent on avenging his beloved girlfriend. Before Tierra could even get her hands up and ready, the fire master had already socked her in the nose and was quickly preparing to throw another punch.

Ahool finally let Maria back onto the ground to continue fighting Meteor dragon without having to worry about the young woman. That ended up being a poor idea. Without any regard for her own safety. Vaulting over some Switchscale and Wade, Maria charged directly at the Choten, who was still recovering from Wade's attack and was most certainly not expecting a fiery blonde who was just a little under a foot shorter than him literally throw her entire body at him in an act of pure rage.

In her fit of anger and sadness, Maria's blind attack managed to give the Choten quite the beginnings of a black eye, but also managed to knock both of them to the ground. That fall sent Maria dangerously close to the edge of the lake. The second the young woman looked over the edge as she tried to stand, she simply collapsed down again in a fit of weak sobs. It was pretty safe to assume what she saw in the water.

"You insignificant child!" The Choten spat while getting to his feet.

All Maria was able to do was whimper. "You murdered her… you murdered my sister!" The sight of the completely heartbroken woman seemed to give up, her rage spent on a single act of anger.

The Choten began to reach for her, looming over the poor woman. I knew exactly what he was going to do. He was going to give Maria the same fate as Nadia. Without a single though, my body moved forwards, straight for the Choten. I couldn't save Master Nadia, I was _not_ letting the same happen to Maria.

It was slight, but the Choten seemed to pause for a moment. He stared straight at Maria's crying face for a single moment, just a small moment of hesitation as he pulled his arm back just slightly. The moment probably lasted for only a second before he steeled himself and once again reached for her.

I took about two steps before a piercing shriek exploded through the cave. A blue blur ran past me not two seconds after the horrendous sound, knocking me down again. The Choten was just about to grab Maria when the blur skidded to a stop and crunched down on his arm.

Once the creature had latched onto the Choten's arm, I finally was able to recognize it as Ruby Eye.

She locked eyes with the Choten, who had such a quick change from cocky to absolutely mortified, I assumed he knew exactly who Ruby eye was. After a few second stare down that seemed to take ages. Finally, the titan reared back and threw the Choten over her head.

The moment Ruby had all four paws on the ground again, she whipped around and slowly stalked forwards.

"You _dare_ harm my babies?!" She snarled. The gem on her forehead glinted dangerously. "Leave before I make them eat you!"

Several beams of energy blasted out of the gem and sought out every creature in the cave. The moment the beams found their foreheads, every creature was banished immediately, except for Ahool and the evolved Meteor dragon and Trox. Ahool fell from the air, landing on the hard rocky floor, completely unconscious. Trox and the dragon, on the other hand, suddenly started acting really different.

Both creatures began to come after their now former masters. Tierra quickly abandoned her fight with Master Chavez to rush to the Choten's side, who was now quickly stumbling to his feet. Both shared a look before banishing their creatures.

Tierra started to summon something else, but the Choten stopped her.

Ruby eye raised her head and fanned out her fins, that had turned from a pale blue to a dangerous yellow since the last time I had seen her. "There is nothing that you can summon that I can't control, August. Leave now or I shall gut you like the eel you are!" She threatened.

Tierra hesitated for a moment, but then quickly decided that fleeing would be their best option. Both Chavez and Wade looked like they wanted to go after them, but were also unsure of the water titan who was more than a little agitated.

The moment the two left the cave, Ruby Eye jumped into action. Gently grabbing Maria's boot, she pulled the still crying woman away from the water's edge. I pulled myself to my feet once again as Wade moved forwards to comfort her.

Ruby Eye stared down in the water for a moment before stepping backwards suddenly. Not a moment later, something began to emerge from the water. The creature looked like a mix between a dragon and a tortoise, and its shell had several long spines that seemed to have been blunted by time. Between those few spines, I could see two bodies strewn among them.

This creature, obviously the water elder, seemed to communicate with Ruby eye for a moment. The Elder slowly turned its body in the water, allowing us to see the two bodies in full view.

"Nadia!" Chavez and Wade called out.

"Ray!" I cried at the same time as the two men.

Ruby eye quickly jumped on top of the Elder's shell and grabbed Ray by the hood of his jacket. The titan jumped back to the ground with Ray securely in her grasp and gently lowered him to the ground.

Snapping out of his shock, Wade quickly jumped into action. He quickly began checking Ray over while Ruby returned to grab Nadia. I thought both were for sure dead, but after checking his pulse, Wade immediately began chest compressions.

It only took a few moments of CPR to cause my best friend to cough up any water that he had inhaled. I ran over to him as Wade rolled him over on his side and moved to help Master Nadia.

"Hey, man." He sputtered, still coughing up some water. "How's it goin?"

"Not cool, dude!" I shouted, tears of relief began to well in my eyes. "Not cool at all."

Looking over to Nadia, I could see panic begin to take hold of Wade's eyes.

"Come on, Nad, don't do this to me!" He said through his teeth as he continued CPR.

Maria had crawled to her sister's side and Chavez was now holding her out of the way.

"Please, no…" I could hear Chavez whisper as Ruby Eye began to whine.

Time seemed to crawl by as Wade continued his efforts to save his childhood friend. "Look, Nad, let's make a bet? I bet that you won't make it. If you do, I'll take some years off your hair punishment. You can stop re-dying it tomorrow, and let it grow out again!" Wade's voice broke as he pleaded with the still unconscious woman.

Finally, Nadia's body tensed and she began to cough. Wade quickly turned her on her side. After a few relief filled moments, we could hear Nadia hoarsely whisper. "I'm holding you too that."

Maria wrapped her arms around her older sister and once again began to sob. Chavez and Wade shared a look before both letting out a relieved sigh that turned into a chuckle.

How everything somehow ended alright after all of this, I don't think I'll ever know.


	22. Chapter 22

**Liz-** thanks again for commenting and i'm glad you're enjoying the story and the new characters so much! Right now, all i can say is the ley lines are connected to the veil and that the Elder told Nadia what she needed to know. I'm glad you enjoyed my explanation for Nadia's hair. It always seemed so out of place to me so I came up with a dumb reason for it.

 **Gabe's Pov**

Without saying a word, the water elder sank back down into the lake of mana. I tried to call out a 'thank you' but I don't know if he heard me. Both Ray and Nadia weren't conscious for long. I wasn't surprised that Nadia was out cold after everything she had been through, but when Ray went limp, I nearly had a heart attack.

Ruby Eye checked his mind and found that he was just mentally exhausted from encountering the Elder. Eventually, Ahool began to stir and Wade told his titan to head back to the creature realm. The titan banished itself after giving him a weak whine. The only creature remaining in the cave was Ruby Eye, and she showed no signs of wanting to go back to the water civilization. In fact, when we were leaving the cave, she refused to leave Maria's side.

Chavez carried Nadia out of the cave while Wade carried Ray, and Maria leaned on the water titan for support as we walked back through the winding tunnels. When we reached the outside, the beach was a complete mess of massive footprints and rocks. The other masters were resting on a rock while Allie was sitting on an unconscious Kura's nose.

"Gabe!" Allie shouted as she saw me. When she saw Ray, she let out a worried gasp. "What happened?!"

Chavez headed straight to the car while Wade and I explained everything that had happened in the cave. Maria scanned the sky, probably looking for her own titan.

"Where's Light?" She asked, and Allie pointed to the ocean.

"He's somewhere in there. I'm not exactly sure."

"Ruby, can you wake up Kura and Light?" The blonde asked, looking down at the blue creature.

The water creature stepped towards the water and shot out two beams of energy. One went out into the water while the other connected to Kura's forehead. After the beams disappeared, the Kitsune hybrid began to stir.

"Kura, are you okay?" Allie ran back to her titan and pressed herself against his cheek.

"I am fine. What happened with Ruby Eye?" He asked. It was then that he noticed the blue, dog-like creature. He let out a snarl and quickly brought up one of his hands to protect me.

"It's okay, Kura. I think she's Nadia's titan, so she's okay. She was just worried about her." She soothed him.

Kura's snarl slowly disappeared, but he still kept a distrustful look locked onto the titan.

"Are you Nadia's titan?" I asked Ruby Eye.

"No, I am not." She replied, watching as Light finally emerged from the water and quickly greeted Maria.

"Then who is your partner, and how do you know Maria and Nadia?" Jaha asked.

"My partner introduced me to them when they were very young. I watched over them when he was away on business. He passed away several years ago, now." Ruby trailed off, looking back to the car where Nadia was. "I promised I would watch over them as much as I could…."

"What's his name?" Kimora pressed.

The creature let out a sigh. "My partner was Abram Lobachevsky, Nadia and Maria's grandfather, and last Lion of the Guard."

Kimora and Jaha both looked absolutely shocked, while Maria seemed more than a little confused.

"Lion of the Guard?" I echoed. "What's that?"

"The Lion is what the Guard called their leader…" Jaha muttered. "The Guard vanished ages ago. I never knew he was a part of it."

"Dedushka was a part of what? I knew he was a duelist, but he was retired!" Maria looked down at the water creature.

"They hid right under your noses. They operated well until they were disbanded several years ago. None are left anymore." Ruby explained.

Thinking back on the book and our encounter in the Nature civilization, I realized that she was either lying or didn't know that some like Celeste was still around. Not wanting to throw the incredibly powerful creature under the bus, I kept quiet.

Once Nadia and Ray were safely secured in the car, we all piled in and headed for the temple. Kura and Light banished themselves after we left the beach, both apparently wanting to make sure we got on the road safely. I called Ray's mom to let her know what happened just as we left, so she and Ray's dad met us there.

Wade spoke to them and Maria privately for a while, and when they came back, it was decided that Ray would be taken to Nadia and Maria's home so he could effectively keep an eye on their conditions. Ruby Eye somehow managed to cram herself into the trunk of the car and accompanied us back to the temple and rode back with Wade to help with Nadia and Ray.

Since it was late in the day by the time we got back, the Masters just sent us home. I got away with going to bed early by saying I wasn't feeling well, and had a deep, dreamless sleep.

 **Allie's Pov**

I tiredly stumbled into my room after taking a long shower. I was so exhausted that I considered just falling asleep without putting any pajamas on. One glance in the mirror though made me pause. None of the marks or color on my face had changed, but the line on my back had once again thickened. My toenails had now turned black, like my fingernails, and I just began to notice that it was beginning to creep up past my nails.

My lip quivered with tired frustration. I thought I would know something about the black marks by now, but I was really more confused than ever. According to Kura, his marks were from his Kitsune side. They were mainly genetic, but could be given to an adopted family member. At first I thought it was possible one might have survived and had given me the marks for whatever reason, but the Kitsune were all wiped out by Megaria hundreds of years ago. Once again, the trail had run cold.

Not wanting to look at the marks any longer, I quickly got dressed and pulled a blanket over my mirror. While doing so, I accidentally knocked down the mask that my mother had sent me. Bending down, I picked it up and stared at it for a while.

It was sent to me right after a huge Fiasco with Megaria, so it took me a long time to believe that it might have been sent by her. It was also such a bizarre gift that I never knew what to do with it. After really thinking about it, though, I realized it was the exact kind of gift she would send to me. I enjoyed a wide variety of knickknacks ranging from heartbreakingly cute to weird and bordering on creepy. Mom never understood where it came from, but she was always more than willing to embrace the creepy weirdness even when her father wasn't.

I clenched my jaw thinking about all of the kid haunted houses mom and I would hunt down during Halloween time and how much fun we would have. That line of thinking always brought me back to the worst day of my life. The day she left. The day she abandoned me and dad to go live out the highlife.

Frustrated, I opened my closet doors and tossed it in the back. The moment I let go of it, dread rocketed through my entire body. Dad was working late because of some meeting tonight, leaving me with the house all to myself. No one had any reason to come by unannounced unless it was an emergency, so I had armed the alarm system.

The moment I let go of the mask, I heard the alarm go off.

The control system for the alarm was in the kitchen. Unfortunately visible from several of our many windows that I had completely forgot to cover before getting in the shower. The alarm beeped once, twice… and the mask clanged on the floor in the silence leading up to the third.

It beeped a third time, and then I heard a crash downstairs. Immediately, my mind went to the worst conclusion. The intruder broke the alarm. I quickly ran to my bed and retrieved my phone. I continued to head thumps and slams as what sounded like three people ran about the downstairs of my house.

After grabbing the phone and my gauntlet, I launched myself towards my door. I had left it cracked after I came it, and now I quietly closed and locked the door. Panic already was eating away at my stomach, but I felt it quickly rise in my chest and up my throat when I heard someone running up the stairs.

I quickly ducked into my closet, closing the door after and wedging myself behind some clothes and a shoe rack at the very back. My door was thankfully near the end of the hall, so it would take a little time before the person reached my room.

My mind began to race. I if I called the cops, would they hear me? It wouldn't take too much to force my door in, and even less to open my closet. All they would have to do is toss some of my clothes aside and I would be a sitting duck. Looking at the black, fingerless gauntlet in my hand, I quickly slipped it on. It activated, but I could feel that I had no energy to summon anything. Even though I couldn't use it to its fullest ability, having the gauntlet on helped calm me down a bit.

Finally, I got enough nerve to call the cops. I nearly cried when a voice answered the phone.

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?"

"There are people breaking into my house!" I whispered while trying to keep my voice from breaking. I filled the operator in on where I lived and that it sounded like three people had come in. The operator reassured me that the police were on their way and that I needed to stay on the phone with her.

I nearly cried out as I heard another pair of footsteps run up the stairs while the door next to mine was thrown open. I desperately looked around for something to cling to, and I saw the mask right in front of me.

The sight of it made me completely revert back to when I was a child. Anytime I was scared, I never ran to my father, I ran to my mother. I always felt safe with her, and she always seemed to know how to calm me down. I grabbed it and held it tightly to my chest.

Tears ran down my face as I heard my door knob begin to jiggle. The person had finally reached my room. A masculine voice shouted something through the door, at first it was agitated, and then he demanded to be let in.

"I know someone's in there! Open up!" The voice shouted while the operator continued to say comforting words through the phone, reassuring me the cops weren't far away.

There were loud bangs on the door as he tried to force his way in. For a moment he stopped, and I could hear mumbling. I told the operator that another person had made their way up the stairs and now there were two people outside my door.

My heart pounded as the pounding on the door resumed, but was even louder than before. I had no doubt in my mind, the two were working together to get to me. They hit the door in unison once, twice, and on the third time, I could hear the door break open.

"Help me!" I pleaded through the phone as I could hear them enter my room. One went straight to the closet and tore open the door. I was well hidden from sight, but it wouldn't take much to tear me from my hiding place.

Slowly, the man took a few footsteps towards the back of the closet where I was. I could hear that he was disturbing the hanging clothes as he walked through. I slouched down as much as I could to maybe give myself a few more moments, but it was no use.

A hand brushed the top of my head and quickly reached down, grabbing my hair and yanking me out of my hiding place. I let go of the phone in favor of clutching onto the mask. He dragged me out of the closet and threw me before the other man.

"There you are, little girl." One of the men said through his teeth with a disgusting smile. Both were wearing all black and had backpacks that were by now stuffed to the brim with things that they were going to steal.

The other man who I had been thrown in front of seemed to be the ringleader of the heist. As he reached down to grab me, I threw up a mana shield out of desperation. The shield knocked the two back for a second, thoroughly startling both.

"What the shit was that?!" The other man cried out."

"What the hell did you do, little girl?!" The ringleader reached for me again.

I had seriously underestimated how much mana I had left, because I didn't have the energy to create another shield. I closed my eyes tightly and shrunk to the floor, and hoped for some kind of miracle.

Suddenly, there was a thud outside my window. All three of us looked out into the darkness and saw nothing.

"What was that?" The other man jumped, quickly going to inspect the window.

"What are you doing? It's probably nothing!" The ringleader had been shaken too, but he quickly turned his attention back to me.

I was still watching the window when it happened. The man was looking around when suddenly, a ghost white fox face appeared in the window. The other man and I gasped in surprise as it stared him.

With blinding speed, a black arm smashed through the window and grabbed the man by the face. In one fluid motion, the creature had pulled the man out through the window and let go. I heard a scream that was quickly cut off my a hollow thud.

The ringleader turned to see one of his partners in crime missing and a foxlike creature slowly enter through the window. Now that the creature was in full view, I had flashbacks to a broken and ruined temple in the darkness civilization. Where statues of fox creature statues that were exactly like the creature before me stood at attention with their long tails twined around the pedestals they stood on.

"What the fuck?!" The man stumbled backwards and drew a gun at the creature. Without a second question, the man fired several rounds.

The creature- no, the Kitsune jumped to the side with lightning speed, avoiding the bullets in some miraculous way. The man completely unloaded his gun at the darkness creature. When he realized he was out, the ringleader bolted for the door.

He didn't make it far though. The white faced kitsune jumped after him. Its long arms grabbed the man and tossed him down the hall.

I didn't try to follow the two. I could already tell the creature was going to handle them and that I didn't really have to worry anymore. Now I just needed to keep the creature safe. I stumbled back into the closet and grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" I said into the receiver, but got no response. "Hello?"

In my rush, I hadn't even checked the screen of my phone. When I did, I saw that it was cracked and black. In the chaos, I had broken my phone and it had turned off. I could hear the chaos continue downstairs suddenly come to an end with the shattering of glass.

My body was still too shaky to even consider going downstairs to see what had happened, so I sat in my closet and waited. After a while, I heard heavy footsteps head up the stairs. I had no doubt that the Kitsune had completely kicked their butts, but now I was afraid that it would now come for me as well.

The white face of the creature peeked around my closet door and I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. It's golden eyes held nothing but concern.  
"Are you alright?" the creature spoke. It's face and five tail tips were pure white while the fur on the back of its neck was silver. The rest of its body was coal black except for a small white patch of fur on its right shoulder.

Instead of answering, I asked a question of my own. "Who are you?"

The creature fell down on four legs just as fresh blood splattered to the floor. I guess he didn't avoid all of the bullets. "I am Hakura Kitsune." He stepped closer to me.

I could finally hear sirens fast approaching. I watched Hakura slowly shrink and transform into a medium sized dog. He was about two steps away from me when I saw his golden eyes roll back into his head. I lunged forwards to catch his head just as I heard the police enter my house.


	23. Chapter 23

Sooo, how's it been? I'm sorry I disappeared for… what? Two months or so? I made a promise to myself to keep a backlog of chapters so I could keep a schedule for my stories, releasing every other week, but I've been having a pretty shitty year, and it's only April. Since January, I've had two deaths in the family (neither of which I was super close to but I had to be there for my family), I got sicker than I have ever been in at least ten years, and had two research essays due on the same exact day with a third due less than two weeks later. It's like the world decided that last year wasn't hard enough for me and just kept throwing little missiles of pain and stress my way.

Hopefully, the universe will give me a long enough break to write a bunch more chapters and start really diving into this story.

* * *

 **Liz-** I'm glad you liked the chapter and I hope you like how all of these character's storylines will go!

 **Allie's Pov**

Hakura was obviously mistaken for a dog when I was found. My father was immediately called and rushed home to see if I was okay. Everyone kept asking me questions. The cops, my father… their voices just melded into a mess of sound as the kitsune was hauled off to an animal hospital. I clutched the mask to my chest, half faking shock so people would stop talking to me.

Everyone eventually left me alone and I was allowed to go upstairs. Not wanting to stay in my room after everything that happened, I entered one of the guest rooms and snuggled down in the blankets. Eventually, I fell asleep.

 **Gabe's Pov**

A phone call woke me up early in the morning. I was hoping it would be someone with news on Ray, more specifically, that he woke up and was fine, but it was Sasha.

"Sasha?" I spoke into the receiver. "What's up?"

"Gabriel, I am sorry to call you on such short notice, but I require your assistance in the light civilization." Her soft voice was nice to hear after yesterday's events, but her words were very worrying.

"Did something happen?" My voice was seeping with worry even though I tried to hide it.

"The rebellion has gotten much worse. I am unable to reach my brother or his titan friend, Beowolf, and the light council…" She trailed off. "Please, Gabriel, I need your advice."

I have heard her voice when it was upset before, but never has she sounded this distraught. I immediately agreed to come and got ready for a trip to the light civilization. I sent a quick text to Master Kimora to let them know I wouldn't be going to practice today before calling Allie. She might like the adventure as well. When she didn't answer, I assumed she was still asleep and decided to let her rest. I sent her a quick message just in case she tried to contact me again.

My mom was awake when I tried to leave and I explained that I was heading out with friends for the day and that I probably wouldn't be home until late. She made me stay for an early breakfast, which was very much appreciated, and waved goodbye as I left.

Once I was out of the neighborhood and well hidden from sight, I summoned Sasha. She greeted me happily with a hug and allowed me to banish with her. When we manifested on the other side of the veil, I found we were right in the middle of a light council meeting.

"Angel Boy has grievously insulted this council and even her excellence Eternal Haven!" One council member shouted. "He must be punished!"

"Punished? More like executed. He has committed treason against the light civilization and has led many others down his dark path as well." Sasha flinched at the other creature's words I could see pain written all over her face as a chorus of agreements followed.

"I do not believe Angel Boy meant any of this!" Another member retorted. "Both sides turned to chaos when the Choten was stolen from our grasp."

"I agree, we attacked each other in the confusion. Angel Boy argued his ideals during these meetings to avoid outright rebellion. I no longer believe he has control."

Sasha turned to me. "You now see why I summoned you here." She sorrowfully looked about the council members, who had failed to notice us as of yet. "My brother would never cause such chaos, and neither would Beowolf. I cannot leave the meeting, and they have been debating back and forth for hours. We have found a rebellion stronghold at the light temple in the cloud barrier. Please, Gabriel, I beg of you, go to the stronghold and see if you can find Angel Boy. If I cannot sway the council, they will launch a strike against them and execute my brother if they find him."

Her eyes were filled with worry and conflict, two emotions I had never seen her have at the same time. "Don't worry, Sasha." I reassured her. "I'll find him."

It was embarrassingly easy to sneak out of the council room with the heated debate still going on. Once I reached an outside platform, I summoned Gargle and Lars; one companion and one transport. He excitedly rambled at being summoned and was eager to help when I explained the situation. He jumped into my backpack as I climbed onto Lars. Sasha had sent the coordinates of the temple to my phone and I read them off for Lars.

We flew mostly in silence, both Gargle and I fully understanding the weight of the situation. Sasha had asked this of us without the permission of the light council. We would never tell them that if caught, but we were essentially assisting a rebel leader, and we could easily be thrown in jail or killed for this. While it was highly unlikely that we would be heard at all if we did speak to each other, neither of us were willing to test that theory.

The Light temple ended up being on the very border of the light civilization close to the Null Zone. As we began to descend to the cloud barrier, I could see something move within the haze. Two Zephyr Keepers and Death Liger of Justicar charged straight for us. Lars beeped in alarm as he was quickly surrounded. We put up no fight and I immediately raised my hands in a half surrender, half peace gesture.

The darkness/light hybrid snarled, but listened when I explained that I was sent by Sasha to help Angelboy and Beowolf. After a few moments, the creature turned lead us into the clouds while the Zephyr keepers followed us closely.

I expected to be flying through the clouds for some time, but the temple was surprisingly close and not guarded as well as I expected it to be. We landed at the temple's entrance and I was greeted by a small, humanoid creature with dragonfly wings.

"Welcome to the light temple, duelist. I hear you have come for Angelboy, but he unfortunately is absent at the moment. Beowolf is here, though, and I can bring you to him instead?" Her high voice was barely a whisper, but the creature held herself tall and proud even though she could fit in the palm of my hand.

"I really need to talk to Angelboy, do you know where he went?" I asked.

"He has left to speak with a titan from the fire civilization, but I do not know where they are to meet." My mind immediately went through all of the fire titans I know, which was a short list to say the least. Raja, the sky burner, and Kura Kitsune, the murderer were the only two that I think even the masters know of. Kura is locked away, so my only hunch of who he was meeting with was with Raja.

"Would that titan be Raja, the Sky Burner, by any chance?" It was a shot in the dark, but I watched the small creature carefully, trying to see if she immediately recognized the name.

"Why, yes. Do you know of Raja?" She tilted her head in curiosity.

"I saw her once…" I trailed off, thinking of how she attacked so many creatures just to tell Kura something. "I never spoke to her."

"Raja is quite the dragon. Sister to Napalmeon the Conquering." The creature began to ramble on for a time. "She is his elder by quite a few hundred years. She was called Raja the Red Wave before she fought Infernus, as she was just a red blur in the sky and her outstretched wings made her look like an ocean wave. She never could have eggs of her own, but-"

"She _fought_ Infernus?!" Raja was large, but she was no Infernus. It was hard to imagine the dragoness putting up much of a fight against such a massive creature.

"Oh, yes! She flew circles around him. She didn't have the ability to truly harm him, but he could not even come close to touching him. He ended the fight after only an hour and gave Raja a new title and position. She was highly respected until she all but disappeared." She explained. "Oh, I've gotten quite sidetracked haven't I? Angelboy isn't here, so would you like to speak to Beowolf?"

After standing there, staring at her for a moment, I nodded my head. "He will be able to pass on my message. By the way, what's your name? And what are you? I've never seen a creature like you before."

She motioned for me to follow her into the temple, and I quickly banished Lars and listened to her start to ramble again. "My name is Starrywings, and I am a Pixie. I'm not surprised that you have never seen or even heard of my kind before. We are keepers of the few light temples scattered about, but we are ineffective fighters. We preserve our civilization's history in these temples and keep the murals in tip top shape." She motioned to a grand painting in a room as we passed through.

"So are the murals for special events in your history, or can they depict anything?"

"They depict special events, such as this one!" We entered a room with smaller mural than the others, but Beowolf was there, staring at it intently. Starrywings flew up to the mural and began to point out the symbols and messages. "This depicts the disappearance of the fairies. They were not exactly creatures, or humans, but they were special to all the civilizations. The mural is so small because they died off without anyone even realizing anything was wrong until they were gone."

The large wolf let out a long sigh as Starrywings finished her lecture, and then turned to me, cocking his head to the side.

"He wants to know if you are interested in the mural." Starrywings said, apparently translating something inaudible.

"They are truly fascinating." I breathed, finally allowing myself to relax and step closer to the image. The main subject was what I am assuming is a fairy. It's feminine, human body was draped lightly in fabrics and two wings sprouted from its back. Despite its elegance, there was something unsettling about it. My eyes followed the lines around its body and I came to a shocking realization. The fairy's body seemed unusually rigid with its eyes closed, but only with the box surrounding it did I realize the fairy was dead, and lying in a coffin.

Before I could say anything, Beowolf nudged me away, and towards a door. "He wants to take you on a tour of the temple." Starrywings landed and sat down on my shoulder. "Despite how most light creatures act, very few respect these temples or their history enough to truly appreciate the murals. They are more focused on the now, so it is good to meet someone who is truly interested."

My mission was on the tip of my tongue, but it disappeared as soon as I was pushed into the next room. The image was of Eternal Haven battling Kalima over the sky. I was immediately lost in pure wonder and amazement as Starrywings told its story. We made it through five other rooms when a Zephyr Keeper came screaming into Beowolf's side. I didn't even need to understand the rapidfire beeps to know what had happened.

"Oh no…" I gasped. Beowolf began to snarl as I quickly filled him in on why I came. "I'm so sorry. It's not like me to get that distracted…"

"The fault is mine." Starrywings was slowly beginning to visibly panic. "I got distracted and then I distracted you! Oh, what am I to do? The temple is unstable as it is. If there is a battle, it might damage the murals!"

Beowolf was quiet for a moment, and then he made a low gruff before running out of the room. I stared at the pixie for translation, which she gave without question.

"He is going to abandon the temple immediately. But, if the council knew where they were, we're already surrounded." The pixie cried, now so upset she was shaking.

"Stay here!" I told the light creature. _"Switchscale Dragon, Reef Prince Glu-urgle!"_

I gave Gargle and the dragon a very short explanation as the three of us ran after Beowolf. The only reason we caught up to the large creature was because he had stopped just outside the temple doors. The three of us skidded to a stop once we realized what held the giant wolf's attention so firmly.

The temple was fully surrounded.

Looking back at the temple, I could see hundreds of creatures hiding in the shadows of the long, well decorated hallways.

"Angel Boy, Beowolf, you are surrounded." A booming voice called. "Surrender!"

When the titan didn't respond, I looked up at him. "What should we do?"

Beowolf was silent for a time, and then he threw his head back, unleashing a howl like a thunder crack. A golden mist erupted from just below his shoulder blades that swirled and solidified into two golden wings.

 _So we're going to fight._ Was all I could think before creatures flooded out of the temple, some staying behind while others launched themselves forwards behind Beowolf. The creatures that lagged behind busied themselves with making a shield while the others did a good job keeping the light soldiers occupied while the others worked. I sent Switchscale out to help while Gargle and I scrounged up what we could to build a shield generator and some weapons to help defend the temple.

The battle, at a glance, seemed really one sided. The rebels were severely outnumbered. Most of the rebels were hybrids and smaller light creatures, so they appeared to be outmatched as well, but a titan really does even the playing field. Beowolf was a gold and white blur in the sky, easily picking through the smaller light guards while leaving the larger ones in his dust. The light soldiers who were on his tail were so focused on the titan that the other rebels easily snuck up and overwhelmed their enemies.

Some soldiers broke rank and came after the temple, trying to destroy their stronghold. Thankfully, the shield generator we created was strengthened by the other creatures trying to create their own shields. "I can't believe we're holding our ground!" I said to gargle.

Unfortunately, I spoke a little too soon. Just after I spoke, the clouds parted suddenly as a beam of intense light tore through the battle field. When I could finally see again, all hope drained out of me as the celestial dragon, Orion, Radiant Fury, descended from the clouds. All soldiers chasing Beowolf immediately scattered.

Beowolf had the title of Titan, but even he put a little more power behind his wingbeats in order to get away from the dragon. Part of me wanted to send Switchscale to help him, but the Armor dragon had no chance against such a powerful creature.

When it became clear that the wolf titan couldn't effectively outrun Orion, Beowolf turned on the dragon with his fangs bared. The creatures clashed with devastating force, both snarling and trying to bite each other's throats. The entire battle slowed to a halt as the two tore at each other. Creatures on both sides dove out of the way to avoid being ripped apart on accident.

Switchscale flew down to us, letting out a rattling hiss as he placed himself between me and the fight. The gesture touched me, even though I knew he wouldn't be able to stop either if they threatened to fall on us. It seemed like ages ago when Nadia introduced me to him. I was incredibly confused that she wanted me to duel with a fire creature, but while he was always eager to fight, he wasn't very hot headed, though he never listened to me when we weren't in a fight.

While I was in my own thoughts, the battle came to a head. Beowolf had finally broken away from Orion and his wings began to give off an intense glow. Orion began to gather his own attack. Just as the two finished gathering power, a high pitched shriek split the air.

"Don't!" Starrywings flew past me. "The temple!"  
For just a split second, Beowolf was distracted, and in that split second, Orion blasted his ray of light. It was then that I realized why Starrywings was so panicked. Beowolf was flying straight in front of the temple, with Orion directly in front of himself. Beowolf attempted to try and defend himself, but it was no use. The beam tore through his chest and right wing. As he fell out of its way, the beam continued on its path and blasted through the shield and temple wall.

A horrifying cry began low, but steadily rose in power and pitch. It came from below the temple, but I was more focused on the injured Beowolf who had just crashed onto the temple's entrance. When I reached his side, a giant head snaked its way up past the temple's floating platform.

It wasn't a creature I immediately recognized, but when I did, my heart stopped for a moment. Andromeda of the Citadel was not a creature to be messed with, and I had no clue which side she was on. I sighed with relief when I noticed Angelboy with her, and turned my attention back to Beowolf.

Andromeda let out a terrible battle cry that drowned out my voice as I summoned Humonculon the blaster. The spider like creature quickly weaved its webs around the titan's wounds. After a few moments, the webs were clearly doing their job, as the wolf finally cracked open his golden eyes.

"Beowolf!" Starrywings landed on his muzzle and threw her short arms around his face. "Are you okay?"

He huffed a response, but then turned his attention towards me, his ears were pinned forwards with interest. "He's surprised you stayed." Starrywings explained.

"It's the least I could do after warning you too late. Also, we had to protect this temple." Looking back at the massive hole in its front, I grimaced. "I just wish I could have done more."

Beowolf looked back to the battle, where Andromeda was easily besting Orion and several other large light creatures at the same time while Angelboy led a charge against more light soldiers. The wolf tightened his jaw for a moment, and then turned back to me, placing his muzzle him my lap.

He prodded at me until I lifted his head away with my hands, which is when he dropped a golden ring into my palm.

"Beowolf the Hunter is impressed by you." Starrywings sat on his great paw, gently stroking the shorter fur. "He offers you his titan ring. You can call upon him whenever the situation is dire, as you saved his life and helped fend off those who would have thoughtlessly destroyed unwanted history."

"I… thank you," I was almost at a loss for words. "Is there anything we can do now to help?"

"You can leave." Starrywings interjected. "Andromeda can cover everyone's escape. Please, leave this temple and don't return until this rebellion is over, even if this becomes an enemy stronghold. Please, I beg of you…"

Beowolf watched the pixie for a moment, and then nodded his head. The wolf turned and stared at me intently. He did not make a move, or a sound, but I knew what he wanted. Placing the ring on my finger for safety, I banished Switchscale and Gargle, and then banished back with Humonculon, leaving the light rebels to make their escape alone.


	24. Chapter 24

**Ray's Pov**

"You're awake." A soft voice spoke, almost like a whisper in my ear.

"Am I?" I asked. I knew what it was like to be awake, and this wasn't _awake_. My eyes wouldn't open to confirm my suspicions though.

"Not awake as in lucid, but awake as you are no longer in a coma." The voice answered.

"A coma?" It felt like I should be more freaked out by the word, but I was just too tired.

"The water elder has a powerful mind. It was unintentional, but he exhausted your brain enough that it needed to shut down for a while."

"How long was I in a coma?" Using the word to describe something that happened to me was unsettling to say the least.

"Four days. Your parents are incredibly worried, and so is your hybrid." The voice paused for a moment. "I can see you are still exhausted. Return to your dreams for now, and awaken only when you are ready."

The voice disappeared, and I slipped back into oblivion.

I truly awoke what seemed like seconds later. Cracking open my eyes, I was greeted with the snow white face of Okami. She immediately lit up with joy and I could feel her tail thump happily on the bed. Taking a breath, I moved my arms back and sat up slowly. Okami, who was lying next to me, whined. Looking about the unfamiliar room, I suddenly became very light headed.

"Lie back, Ray." The quiet voice entered my mind, and the slightly cracked door to my room was pushed open to reveal Ruby Eye.

"Ruby Eye? What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice sounded super distant and quiet.

"I sensed that my Nadia was in danger, so I came to help. The two of you fell into a coma, so I stayed to assist where I could."

"You know Master Nadia?

"Yes, she is the granddaughter of my dear friend Abram. I watched her and her sisters grow up, and I treated them as if they were my own." Ruby Eye jumped up on the bed, making it creak worryingly under her weight, and settled down next to Okami, who licked her face, causing the creature to visibly grimace. I don't think I could ever consider Ruby eye as a large creature compared to some of the others I've seen, but lying next to us, she was almost twice the size of Okami and her thick tail hung off the bed, still touching the floor. "Your hybrid is strange. She is intelligent, but prefers to act like an unthinking animal. Almost purposefully ignorant to her own abilities."

"What kind of abilities?" She had my attention now. I never got the chance to learn about spirit wolves as I was so busy training with Mai.

" _When the mist comes, keep your ears wide, if you hear the howls, avoid their eyes."_ She recited. "Spirit wolves received their name because they can turn their bodies to mist, growing almost ten times their original size. The only way anyone can tell if it's a wolf or not are their glowing yellow eyes and their howls. Their fangs are the strongest of any organic material I have ever come across." Turning her body, I noticed a scar on her side, just before her back leg.

"But she's a hybrid, do you really think she will be able to make herself into mist?" I asked, rubbing in between Okami's ears.

"Hybrids are a strange thing. Even between civilizations, one side always overpowers the other." Ruby squinted her eyes and sighed. "Do I believe she has abilities? Yes, but will she ever willingly use them? No."

"Oh," When she didn't elaborate, I decided to turn the conversation. Looking around the room, I realized I had no idea where I was. "Where am I?"

"You are in a guest room at Abram- Nadia's home." Ruby paused. "Wade wanted to keep the both of you close to better watch your vitals. Abram kept a large house, and it was passed down to Nadia when he…" She shook her head, refusing to complete the sentence. "Nadia's home was larger, so it was easier to keep you here."

As if on cue, someone pushed the door the rest of the way open, and my heart just about stopped as a green eyed woman with tightly braided blonde hair stepped through the door. My sudden fear quickly subsided as she turned on the light, replaced by confusion. "Maria?"

"Hey, Ray. How are you feeling?" She sat down on a chair next to the bed.

"Alright I guess…" I trailed off, staring at her eyes. They were blue before, weren't they?

Maria quickly picked up on my confusion. "My eyes are naturally green, but I wear colored contacts most of the time."

"Why?" I asked.

Pulling out her phone, she showed me the lock screen. There was a white haired old man with blue eyes, a younger, platinum blonde haired Nadia, a freaking Nadia clone with longer hair, and then a young, green eyed Maria. "Dedushka, Nadia, and Annushka all have blonde hair and blue eyes. Our hair color might not be exactly the same, but blonde is blonde, and we're all pale as ghosts. My eyes were always the one thing that set me apart from the family." She explained.

"Set you apart?"

Leaning back in her chair with a sigh, she simply said. "I was taken into the family. Left on their doorstep by a family friend who never cared enough to back. I changed my last name as soon as I legally could, but my eyes still single me out. I wear the contacts whenever I leave the house."

"Oh," I replied, unsure of what to say.

She waved it off. "So, it's three in the morning, but are you hungry? Thirsty? Need to stretch your legs?"

At the mention of food and water, my stomach began to rumble. "Something to eat would be great."

"Alright, I'll go get you some soup or something. Your stomach's been empty for five days, so we need to go easy on it." She stood and left the room.

Ruby eye stood up and shook herself off. "Be careful not to exhaust yourself. Nadia's awake again."

She didn't give me the time to ask how she knew. Okami gave her one last lick before she jumped off the bed and left the room. Lying back, I tried to ignore my suddenly starving stomach until Maria returned.

 **Allie's Pov**

It's been almost a week since the break in, and I'm still terrified of sleeping alone in my room. I keep summoning Squeaky to stay with me during the night and wake up a little earlier than usual to banish her in case Dad comes in to check on me. Thankfully, he didn't make me go to school. He took a few days off to stay with me, but he ran a bank, so he couldn't be gone too long on such short notice.

Today, when he left for work, he said he was going to bring a surprise home for me. I got a call from Ray's mom right after he left, saying that Ray was finally awake after all this time. Gabe visited for a while after school ended. He gave me some of the homework I had missed, which was just placed in a pile on the table with the rest of the week's work.

It's like I've forgotten how to feel anything else but fear. I hung the mask up over my bed. It felt better to be watched over by something, even if that something was just a piece of carved wood. But better wasn't enough.

My marks have noticeably changed as well. The black around my eyes now lengthened out past the corners of my eyes, thankfully looking like eyeliner wings. The line on my back was now drastically different at my shoulder blades, branching out like feathers. Hopefully, Hakura survived and I will be able to ask him about these things.

I was sleeping on the couch when Dad came home. He carried in several bags worth of stuff, placing it all on the coffee table in front of me. Before I could ask, he ran out the front door, saying the surprise is waiting in the car. While he ran back, I opened one of the bags. In it, was a leash, a couple of bowls, and some toys.

I let out a gasp and jumped up. Dad was walking back through the door as Hakura, still in the form of a dog, followed behind on a leash. I didn't say a word as Hakura made a b-line for me, sniffing me over as if he was checking for injuries.

"After everything this dog's done, I couldn't just let him go." Dad scratched behind his head as I stared at him. "I even got his tags already."

Kneeling down, I checked the collar. On the golden tag, a name shone brightly. "Hero…" Tears welled in my eyes and I threw my arms around the creature's neck, whispering my thanks into the grey and white neck fur. The Kitsune stiffened at my touch, but didn't pull away.

Hakura followed me everywhere. He sat outside the bathroom door as I showered, waited outside my closet as I got dressed, and didn't touch his own food until I was well into eating mine. Later that night, I didn't summon Squeaky. When he followed me into my bedroom, I didn't waste any time.

"Hakura," I looked at the kitsune after closing the door, and he held my gaze. "I need some answers."

I sat down on my bed and motioned for him to join me. Standing up on his hind legs, he began to take his natural form. He sat cross-legged, like me, his five tails curling around each other and then wrapping around his legs. The creature towered over me in this form, but I wasn't afraid. "I am at your service."

We stared at each other for a while, but his intense golden eyes refused to meet mine. Hakura was not like the sculptures in the kitsune temple. The statues had strong upper bodies and faces. The one before me was thin and his face sharp and angular. He also only had five tails compared to the statue's nine. His jet black fur contrasted harshly with his white face, and now that I had a better look at him, his entire neck was salt and peppered rather than just the back. He was very handsome, for a creature.

"Who are you?" I began. "Not just your name, but why are you here, in the human world? Why did you save me?"

The creature sat up straighter, but still refused to make eye contact. "My name is Hakura Kitsune, and I was forcefully brought through the veil one of your human years ago. I was different and not in my right mind. I was brought back to my senses somehow, but I decided to stay here instead of return. I saved you because you needed saving."

I watched him carefully. "Why did you decide to stay?"

He didn't respond immediately. "I was lonely in the creature world. No one in the nature civilization would tolerate a darkness creature in their territory, so I was constantly on the move and under attack. This place was harder to survive in, but I was not always under attack."

"Why were you in the nature civilization?" I asked.

"…There is no place for me in darkness anymore." He said quietly.

I suddenly felt bad for pressing. For just a moment, I had forgotten the kitsune were all gone, that Hakura and Kura were the only two left. "I'm sorry. How have you been living here?"

"I work at your school. Your janitor and bus driver died last year, and I took his place." Hakura said it like it was nothing, but I was horrified.

"Wait a sec…. You've been impersonating that man?!" My thoughts suddenly shot back to my insane bus driver and the kindly janitor who said his name was Kitsune. "Hakura, that's wrong!"

His ears pinned back as I scolded him. "I am sorry. I will not do it again."

"Well, you won't be doing it for some time since you're now the family dog, and you didn't answer my last question." He became very interested in one of his tails at this.

"You… remind me of someone." Was all he managed to say, and I suddenly didn't have the heart to push him.

"Well, Dad doesn't know about the kaiju world, like, at all. Just keep your head low and you can stay as long as you want." He nodded his thanks before stepping down from the bed and turning back into his doglike form.

Sighing, I began to settle down when my phone beeped.

[Guys, we need to meet up ASAP]- Ray

[Defiantly, I've got some serious news about the Light Civilization.]- Gabe

[And I have some news about the Kitsune]- Allie

[I think we all need to touch base soon. Wade isn't going to let me leave for another day or so, how about this Saturday we meet up somewhere? Not the temple.]- Ray

[Sounds good to me. We can meet at my place]- Allie

[See you guys then]- Gabe


	25. Chapter 25

Liz- glad you're still sticking around and I hope you keep enjoying how I continue this story!

 **Ray**

The next day, I actually had the strength to get out of bed. Mom, Dad, and Grandpa had all been by to keep me company. Chavez also came by a lot, but never to check on me. He'd stay as long as he could, disappearing into Nadia's room to care for the exhausted woman.

Alakshmi did all she could to avoid me. Every once in a while, I would see her peek around a corner to see how I was doing, but that was all I ever saw of her other than quick visits to the kitchen. Maria entertained me as best she could when my family had to leave. She helped me to the living room where I met the Lobachevsky's pet. A green macaw called.

"Pickle was a hand-me-down from our grandfather. Dedushka bought him after his first year in America and was his second owner. He's like… seventy something years old now? His real name is General, but little me liked the name Pickle better and now he doesn't respond to anything else. Just don't touch him, or make eye contact, or run from him. But don't let him near you. He's become mean in his old age, especially to strangers."

When Wade came to check in on me, he was surprised how fast I was recovering and promised if I was still feeling well by the next morning, I could go home. I called Gabe and he told me everything about the light rebellion and Beowolf, and then about what happened to Allie. It made me sick with anger thinking about how scared she must have been.

The next day couldn't come quick enough. I was feeling fine and Wade gave me a perfect bill of health. I texted Allie and Gabe before hand, and we all agreed to meet up on Saturday, giving me all of Friday to stretch my legs and get used to being back awake and at home.

I woke up at my normal school day time and headed to the bus stop even though mom and dad said I could stay home. It had been almost two full weeks since I've seen or spoken to Raven, and based on the sudden lack of missed calls from her, I probably upset her from not answering. I had a good reason, but she doesn't know anything about it. Crossing my fingers, I turned the corner and saw a black and blonde haired girl waiting on the bench.

"Raven!" I called out to her and waved, picking up the pace and running to her. I couldn't even begin to describe how happy I was to see her.

She whipped around in surprise. When she recognized who had called out to her, I could see how upset I had truly made her. Standing quickly, she practically shouted at me. "What are you doing here?"

"I had to talk to you." I slowed down to a stop in front of her, suddenly becoming more interested in the ground. "I need to explain myself."

Raven's face turned from upset to slightly confused. After a moment, she sat down on the bench, giving me space to sit as well, but didn't offer it to me.

Still standing, I told her everything. She was rightly horrified when I got to the end. To the part where I unthinkingly almost killed myself. "I think that's the dumbest think I've ever heard anyone do!" She cried, standing quickly, her blue eye boring into me.

"I know, I know. Everyone's already chewed me out for that." I tried to turn the tone of the conversation, but it didn't work.

"I- I'm sorry." She stammered, sitting back down again and hugging herself tightly. "You hadn't called or answered my calls since the dance… I thought I might have scared you off with my story." Shaking her head, I could tell how terrible she felt. "I was being selfish. I didn't even think that you might have been dealing with Kaijudo stuff."

"Honestly, I would have thought the same thing." I sat down next to her, placing my hand over one of hers. "We've both been jerks to each other, even though we didn't mean it. How about I make it up to you for nearly getting myself killed and we call it even?"

She looked back to me, unsure for a few moments. "Okay, and I have the perfect idea." Her grin returned, and I could tell it was a real one. "My school is having an art exhibition tomorrow night. You'll come as my guest and we can never talk about this again." She reached out her right hand. "Deal?"

I gladly shook it. "Deal."

The bus came and she promised to text me the details later. Waving goodbye, I headed down town. It wasn't long before I reached _Kadaver's Getaway_. I spoke to the man outside, who once again directed me to the alleyway. It took all of two minutes for Mai to run out and greet me with a hug.

"Ray!" She wrapped her arms around me. "Are you alright? What happened? I know something happened so don't you dare lie to me."

Her tone turned from worried to accusing, like a mom who had lost her kid in the park for two hours. I was about to explain, but she shushed me and led me inside to a back room. Now in a more private place, she allowed me to explain everything.

She listened quietly to my story, staring hard at the floor with her fists folded together and her chin resting against them. To my surprise, she didn't say anything about me diving in after Master Nadia. Instead, she focused on something else.

"So the water elder advised you to find the others? To save us all…" She hummed, deep in thought.

In all honesty, I haven't even thought about that since it happened. I wouldn't even know where to begin with this request. The Masters already knew where the water elder was, but they might have no idea where the other four are.

"Something's changing, Ray." Mai sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"There is something in the air. Something that I can't figure out." Standing, she turned to look at a picture on the wall of five serpentine creatures twined around each other, each one a different color that stood for the five civilizations. "I think it might be time for me to return to the temple."

I was really taken back by her words. "Wait, really?"

She sighed. "The Guard may be gone, but I am still a duelist. I did what I could to help from the shadows the last two world ending events, but I will be able to help better alongside the masters… If they will have me."

"If they will have you? Did you do something wrong?"

She let out a soft chuckle, shaking her head slightly. "The order does not take well to deserters. They may choose to simply wipe my mind, or order me to a specialist outpost away from the action. I'm not going to lie to you, Ray. It will be rough. If they do try and send me away or erase my memories, I can't let it happen. And if things do go that way, they can't know I've been training you."

Mai refused to talk more about it, and instead we practiced some mana control techniques. She was surprised at how fast I recovered, but I still left exhausted anyways.

It was late when I made my way back home. The street light had come on, causing me to take off running for home. Mom rightfully chewed me out for disappearing without so much as a text or note, but then she began to question where I was.

"Where were you all day?!" She demanded. "I know you left early to talk to Raven, but she doesn't seem like the type to ditch. Where were you after she went to school?"

Trying to think up a lie, I began to just blurt out locations. "The Park, downtown, around the neighborhood… I just wanted to walk around after being in bed for so long."

"You went to the temple, didn't you?" Crossing her arms, she cast an angry glance towards dad.

"No, why?"

"Ray, don't you dare lie to me! You nearly died because of them and not even a week later you run back without telling me!" I have never seen mom so angry. Sure she was upset at the masters when she thought the Choten killed me, but this was far beyond that. Too shocked to respond, I sat quietly as she tore into me. Okami hid under the table, Ojisan became very interested in something outside, and dad stared at the floor as mom questioned the order and my involvement in it.

In the end, she ordered me to go to my room after grounding me from Kaijudo for a month, taking my gauntlet to prove her point. I was angry at first, but I couldn't hold it against her. I don't even want to think about how many times she almost lost me, and she really only knows of two events.

The next morning, I took Okami for a good walk, told mom exactly where I was going, and headed to Allie's.

Reaching the front door, I was greeted by Gabe. "Ray, you're okay!" He just about smothered me with a hug.

"Well, yeah. I wouldn't have been able to text you guys if I wasn't." I chuckled as he let me go. "Have you knocked yet?"

"Yeah, Allie's just taking her sweet ti-" He was cut off as the door swung open and Allie tackled me with a hug. The two of us fell silent as she buried her head in my jacket and held on tightly, as if reassuring herself that I was indeed there.

I would have let her hold on a little while longer, if it weren't for the fact that her dog began to growl. "Uhhh, Allie?" I stepped away, raising my hands in a show of peace.

"Hero- Haku. It's alright. They're friends." Allie backed away from me and knelt down to the animal, placing a hand on his shoulder. The dog still seemed unconvinced. "Dad's out at work, so we'll have the house to ourselves for a while."

Just in case, the three of us and the dog headed upstairs to Allie's room. "Okay," Gabe began. "Time to touch base. Ray, I think you need to go first, then Allie right after. My news is probably not as big as both of yours."

"Okay, here we go." I sighed before launching into my story. To my surprise, neither interrupted, sitting quietly and only visually reaction to all of the weird things I had learned about the Elder and the world.

"Woah… there was a time before the civilizations? And there are still living creatures that were alive back then? That's crazy." Gabe breathed, and I could see the excitement in his eyes as he chewed on this new bit of information. "I wonder if any of the masters knew about this. No one ever said anything."

"Well they also didn't tell us about the Guard," Allie huffed. "And their downfall was a heck of a lot more recent. Celeste couldn't be older than forty, and Kimora's own mother might have been one."

Biting my tongue, I just barely kept from mentioning Mai. I couldn't break my promise to her, even if she might rejoin the order anyways. Deciding to divert attention, I turned to Allie. "Now, your turn. You have some explaining to do." I glanced at the white faced dog, who was watching us from the corner of the room.

Taking a deep breath, she steadied herself before beginning her story. Gabe and I were staring at the dog- no, Kitsune in shock by the end. "Hakura, it's okay. You can show yourself."

The creature stayed still for a moment, silently judging us with his golden eyes before easily morphing into his true form.

"So one true Kitsune still exists." Gabe began excitedly. "It's an honor to meet you!"

Hakura's ear twitched slightly, then bowed his head. "It is an honor to meet the allies of Lady Allie."

The two of us turned to her in confusion. She simply shrugged. "He's very formal, I guess, and a few hundred years old, so old formal. He refuses to call me anything else. I actually got him to admit that he's the one who saved me at the dance. He heard the commotion and headed to the roof to watch us duel, then used his shadow sneak powers to save me. He doesn't know why I have the marks though."

"Well that sucks." I sighed. "Maybe there was another Kitsune survivor? Because he confirmed the marks are Kitsune right?"

Hakura nodded his head when I turned to him. "I know of no Kitsune living near here. If there was, I would have found them." His voice was cold and low, but I couldn't begin to imagine the feelings that I might have brought up by making such a suggestion.

Allie must have seen or heard something that I hadn't because she immediately cast me a warning look before quickly turning to Gabe for his story.

"Well, first off." He fished a golden ring on a silver chain from under his shirt, causing both Allie and I to gasp. He launched into his story of how Sasha had called for his help and how he met and bonded with Beowolf over history and defending the temple. All of that was interesting, but something else caught my attention.

"Wait, so Angelboy was meeting with Raja the Sky burner? Why would he do that? Light and Fire are enemies, so what would the two titans have to do with each other?" I looked between the two, and then to Hakura.

"I haven't the faintest idea." Gabe admitted, crossing his arms. "I didn't get the chance to ask about it. Sorry."

Allie turned to the Kitsune. "Hero- er, Hakura," It was difficult for Allie to keep his name straight while having to call him something else near her father. "You know what, You're hero from now on. Do you know anything about Raja or Angelboy meeting?"

The darkness creature was silent for a time, his golden eyes narrowing slightly as he thought. "Titans are not known to acknowledge borders. Many titans believed them to be senseless, though no one would challenge them if they wandered too far into a different territory. Many often formed alliances between each other… The Lady Ahri brokered a deal with the Fire Fox king during the old war in order to gain an upper hand against Megaria." He spat out the name. "She bore the king a son while he kept her people safe. The deal ended when that mad king got himself killed by Napalmeon along with over half of the fire fox population."

"Wait, what?" I gaped.

"So Kura's father was killed by Napalmeon the Conquering?" Allie asked carefully, seeing Hakura now visibly agitated by the story.

"And the prince got his revenge at the destruction of his Mother. Kura was immediately thrown into jail and the Fire Foxes were put in chains. Kura only stays because Skycrusher holds their lives in his claws, and without the Fire Foxes or the prince's strength, the Kitsune fell."

Seeing how upset the memories made him, Allie got down from her bed and gently hugged his neck. Hero made no move to hug her back, but his ears immediately flattened and his eyes watched her with surprise, completely unsure of what to do.

She called an end to that topic, and we spent the rest of the day catching up on homework with Gabe's help. My phone beeped, signaling it was time to head home and clean up before meeting Raven.

"Sorry guys, I've gotta go." I gathered up my things.

"Where to?" Gabe asked.

"Raven invited me to her school's art exhibition. I've gotta go get ready and meet her.

I didn't miss the change in Allie's mood, but the sudden death glare from Hero, who also noticed the difference, made me hurry out the door. I thought Raven and Allie were getting along now, but I guess not.

Running home, I was somewhat surprised at how easy I now found the run. When putting on some more appropriate clothes, I took a moment to actually check myself out and was surprised to find more muscle than I remembered.

Taking a few seconds for vanity, I flexed my arms. "Thank you, Mai!" Her intense training is paying off in more ways than one.

A text from Raven sends me running for the door with Okami hot on my heels. Dad held her back as I slipped out and met Raven on the porch.

"Hey, stranger." She greeted me.

"Hey, please ignore the terrible howling in three, two, one." My countdown was perfectly timed. Okami cried incessantly as we walked down to the bus stop. Noticing we were going alone, I turned to her. "Is your family not coming to see your art?"

"Dad's out of town and the triplets are all violently ill." She sighed, unable to hide a grin. "I'm kind of glad though. It's difficult to wrangle the three terrors when in public, especially around fragile things."

"I can imagine!" The two of us laughed, both remembering just prior to the dance.

We talked the entire way there, and all the way up to the door. After picking up a flier for a summer art class, the two of us began to wander around, looking at the art pieces.

"So, what kind of stuff do you have in here?" I asked as we examined a clay pineapple that somehow got a first place ribbon in ceramics.

"All pencil and charcoal drawings. I think you might immediately recognize one or two." She gave me a sly smile, turning away and continuing on to the next piece.

Finally reaching the 2d and not photography section, we admired a brightly colored painting when I noticed something on the far wall. Next to a sparkling blue ribbon, there was a black and white charcoal drawing of Guardian Sphinx Alexandria.

"Hey, you won something!" I cheered, and her face lit up as she saw it.

"I can't believe it! I can't believe it won!" She wrapped her arms around me in a hug, which I happily returned after a strange second of hesitation.

Walking up to it, I began to admire the techniques she used and she just blushed while trying to play off her talent. We found a few more pieces from her, each one just as amazing as the last, but then Raven noticed someone in the crowd.

"Hey, Mrs. L, Mr. J!" She called into the crowd, she turned to me real fast though, and whispered, "Prep yourself".

The two adults turned, and I felt the color drain from my face. The Nadia clone was here, and no longer anything like her picture. Long, platinum blonde hair framed her burned face. Her left eye no longer a deep blue but a hazy silver, completely blind. As she turned, there was an obvious limp in her gait. Looking down, I noticed her dress pants were unusually saggy on the left leg, and two metal rods were barely visible where her ankles should have been.

"Ray, I'm glad you could make it!" The man, Mr. J greeted Raven. He was obviously an art teacher. He had the hairdo, the dark button down shirt, and lightly stained pants from paint that he obviously tried to scrub out. "Congrats on the win! Maybe you can make it off with the main prize?"

"Maybe. I dunno though, that pineapple might just beat us all." She said sarcastically.

"Why that thing won, I will never know." Mrs. L shook her head with a chuckle, then she seemed to notice my shocked stare. Raven noticed after a moment, and quickly intervened.  
"Raiden, this is Mrs. Annushka Lobachevsky. She's Master Nadia's twin, but I'm sure you've realized that by now."

Understanding seemed to dawn on the two teachers. "Oh, you know my sestra? From the hospital or the dojo?"

"Dojo." I answered, still reeling from the strangeness of meeting a happier, more outgoing, and not pink haired Nadia.

"Ah," She nodded. "I hope she doesn't treat you all too terribly. Nad's always been more hardnosed than anyone I've ever known. She's always had a knack for teaching, but she's a bit too stiff for school life." The woman sighed, as if remembering something.

"She makes us work, but she's a good teacher." I responded.

"That's good. I'm sorry, but I have a meeting early tomorrow. Have a nice night everyone!" She waved before disappearing into the crowd.

"Okay," Mr. J suddenly turned to me. "So you're the Raiden I've heard so much about? Raven often talks about how good of an artist you are."

"Oh, uhh." Looking to Raven for help, I found a mock-innocent smile. "I guess?"

"Maybe you can join us this summer? We have an extensive art program that runs for three weeks. Raven's attended once before, so if you have any questions, you can ask her." He fixed his glasses before checking his watch. "Sorry, I have to run too. The exhibition will be ending soon and I need to beat the crowd if I want to keep my promise to May."

"May is Mr. J's daughter." Raven explained as he left. "His name is Joseph Jack. We call him JJ behind his back, but Mr. J any other time. He really liked the picture you gave me. There's even a financial aid program if your family can't fully afford it."  
The two of us talked about the program until the grand winners were announced, and we were the first to storm out when the pineapple placed first. IT WASN"T EVEN REALISTIC. IT WAS JUST A SPIKY OVAL!

We caught the last buss home, and I walked Raven to her house so we could talk a little longer. "Thanks for coming tonight." She said as we reached her door.

"No problem! It was really fun." I replied.

She took my hand for a second, suddenly making my stomach tense up, and gave it a small squeeze. "I'll see you around?"

"Definitely." I nodded with a smile, and watched her head inside. Turning once the door shut behind her, I allowed myself to grin like an idiot all the way home.


	26. Chapter 26

Liz- yep. Annushka is alive and well. I hope you enjoy the next chapter!

Gabe

It had been about three weeks since the incident with the Water Elder, meaning it had been three weeks since we had seen or heard of Master Nadia. Wade was never home, Chavez wouldn't talk about it, and even Ray had no clue how she was, and it was really worrying me. I feel like if something had happened, the other masters would be informed and we would hear some kind of whispers about it, but there was nothing to be overheard.

"No news is good news…" I sighed to myself as I checked my phone one morning. It was a weekend, two weeks into Ray's grounding from Kaijudo which also didn't help. With only Allie to offset my worries, who was very pouty about Ray's new girl friend, I often found myself skipping practice just to avoid the tense environment.

My phone suddenly beeped, stirring me from my worries. Checking the ID, I saw that it was Wade. I answered faster than I have ever answered any call in my life.

"Wade?"

"Sup Gabe?" He replied. "How've you been?"

"Fine. How's Master Nadia?" I asked.

I could hear him laugh through the receiver. "I'm doing great, thanks for asking." I immediately apologized, feeling a bit bad about forgetting my manners. "She's well. Actually, she's going to the temple today to fix the ley lines while she's got the strength."

"While she's got the strength?" I felt my worries bubble up again.

"She's been having good days and bad. Today's a really good day so she wants to fix the lines now and not have to worry about it while she's paralyzed with exhaustion."

"Do you know when she'll be there?"

"If Maria can't talk her out of it, we'll all head out in an hour or so. I'm sure you want to be here for this, and probably Allie and Ray too. Just giving you a heads up." We said our goodbyes and I launched out of bed.

Shooting a quick text to my friends, I quickly got ready and headed out. Even though Ray was grounded from Kaijudo, he said he was absolutely coming, and all Allie responded with was "see you soon". The three of us met up in front of the dojo.

"She's really back today?" Allie asked as she greeted us.

"Wade said she would be at the Dojo in an hour, and that was an hour ago." I replied.

"Well, let's go!" Ray led the three of us down into the temple, and we all immediately headed for the Ley lines.

We ran through the tunnel and were greeted by the Masters, Wade and Maria. Seeing the water master back in her familiar leather jacket was reassuring, even though she was still pale and leaning on her sister for support.

"So, how exactly are you supposed to fix the lines?" Master Okamoto asked.

"It's difficult to explain." Master Nadia looked to the disturbed magic lines. The ley lines were still visible, but their vibrant colors had been muddled and fraying, no longer the perfectly straight beams of mana that they once were.

"Then a demonstration is in order." Jaha glanced at us and nodded slightly in greeting. "If you feel up to it."

"I'm sure I'll manage." Leaving her sister's side, Nadia made her way to the center of the platform. Once at the center of the divided circle, she turned her body, facing east. Raising her left hand and then right, she held her hands palm up her fingers pointing to the North and South respectively. Bringing her hands slowly together over her head, she pulled them to her chest as she turned northwards. Repeating the action, she knelt down afterwards. Still facing north, she separated her hands and slammed her palms against the ground.

Light immediately shone from underneath her hands, and light blue lines, the same color as the mana pool formed under her eyes. Like lightning bolts, they traced her cheeks down and faded at her throat. The air in the room seemed to change. Drafty and dull seemed to clear away as the light under her palms focused and lit the carvings in the floor.

"Woah…" Allie breathed. Ray stayed silent, but watched her carefully. Suddenly, he stepped forwards.

"Ray," Chavez reached out and grabbed his shoulder as he continued towards her.

"It's working, but it will go faster and easier if I help." His voice was almost not his own. When he turned to us, his eyes were now a hazy slate blue. Startled, Chavez let him go.

Ray quietly joined Master Nadia, and, facing South, repeated her movements. When he slammed his hands down on the ground as well, a similar light was created and more of the markings began to react to the two. The same markings began to form under his eyes.

This new light flooded through the stone pillar the two stood on and seemed to slowly change the tone of the lights. One by one, the particles of light in the lines seemed to drink up the mana that Nadia and Ray were feeding it.

It was barely noticeable at first, but the Ley lines began to regain their old colors. Bright and almost more vibrant than before, the line seemed to move faster, giving off a light hum.

Suddenly, a different color light turned the glowing engravings a pale green. The light underneath the two's palms changed as well, and it even began to creep up their arms.

And like that, everything was over. The lights vanished in the blink of an eye, and the Ley lines were fixed. Ray and Nadia fell to their knees, the marks under their eyes vanishing with the end of the spell.

Chavez and Wade were the first to run over to the two, followed closely by Maria and Allie.

"You two okay?" Wade asked as he knelt by the two.

"I'm fine." Nadia reassured, making sure to repeat herself to Chavez, who looked more than a little freaked out.

I followed Allie and checked on Ray, but both were surprisingly fine. Even Nadia stood without assistance.

"So, how and what exactly happened?" Kimora asked.

"The Elder said we couldn't fix the ley lines without tampering with the veil, so we just realigned them." Ray explained before Master Nadia could. His eyes had returned to their natural color.

Isao turned to ask the water master about it, but she could sense his question. "Don't ask how it worked. All I understand is that we allowed the mana in the lines to run through us and forced it back on its original path. It will not stay forever though."

"How are you two not dead or close to dead after doing that?" Allie asked.

Ray seemed at a loss, so Nadia took this one as well. "The Elder explained that the lines are not sentient by any means, but they sense when something is trying to help, and will return the favor. I'm not sure how long it will last though."

"What the heck was that, Ray?" I asked. "I thought the elder didn't tell you how to fix the lines."

"I thought the same thing." He rubbed the back of his neck and laughed. "I just knew what to do."

"Watch it, your _Natural_ talent is showing." Allie teased, but I could see in her eyes that she still held a grudge.

Nadia wasn't kidding about the ley lines helping her and Ray out. Nadia was able to stay at the temple for the rest of the day, and Ray was able to duel like never before. His shields were stronger, spells were easier, and he was all around more energetic than before.

It was good having both of them back. Things finally seem to be going back to normal. Well, normal for us.

 **Ray**

I returned home way later than I should have. After lessons at the temple had finished, I ran over to Mai's. My body felt like it was overflowing with energy, and I had to put it to some use.

Mai sapped that feeling right out of me though. She made me manipulate the black ink under her skin, changing its shape and opacity, and even pull it out of her skin and play with its properties. Such little work practically sucked the life out of me, but Mai was still impressed with how long I held up.

Everyone was asleep by the time I got home, except for mom and Okami. My dog happily greeted me, but mom just glared while waiting for an explanation. My plan was just to say I was out with Raven, and try to make up answers and dodge questions whenever I could, but I could see in her eyes that she didn't want me to speak. She knew exactly where I was. There was no getting out of this.

Placing my gauntlet on the table, I walked back to my room with my hands behind my back and head hanging in shame. Oblivious, Okami happily pranced ahead of me. After closing my door, I could hear mom walking down the hall. She paused in front of my room for a moment, sighed, and then continued to her room.

The next morning, I took my sweet time getting ready. Okami was all about it, happily snuggling into my side and letting out content sighs occasionally. When I finally left my room for food, mom was waiting at the table. The look in her eyes told me that today was going to be a bad day.

"Ray, I am very disappointed in you." The lecture began. "You directly disobeyed me, and before you say anything about how important something was, I don't care. I told you that you are not allowed to duel for _at least_ a month. If you refuse to listen to me, maybe the masters can be of some help, considering that every time you nearly _died_ was because of them."

I felt the color drain from my face, already feeling the embarrassment of having my mom talk to any of the masters about grounding me as well. She made it even better by saying that I was going to come with her.

I could hardly eat anything because of the feeling of dread in my stomach. Because of this, we ended up leaving a lot earlier than I would have liked. Thankfully, by the time we got there, most of the other students were gone taking care of breaches. Gabe and Allie also weren't there to witness this mess, so that eased me a little.

It surprisingly took us a while to find a master at all. Master Nadia was keeping an eye out for breaches with Panopter, so that's who mom decided to speak to. Probably the one I wanted her to find the least.

"Nadia, I'm so glad to see you're well!" Mom happily greeted her, momentarily forgetting her own mission. For a moment, I forgot that mom visited me often when Wade was keeping me at Nadia's home, and that she had befriended the water master at some point in time, so she must have been worried for her as well.  
"Janet, what brings you here today?" Nadia was surprised, but not unhappy to see her.

The two spoke for a moment. I was way too embarrassed to listen, until mom asked her a question.

"Where are the other masters? No offense, but you still look really ill and tired. Shouldn't someone be around to help you?" Always the worrier, mom placed a hand on Nadia's arm. It was then that I noticed the folding chair and a neatly folded blanket a few feet away from the Water master. It honestly was surprising that she was already back.

"Master Chavez, Kimora, and Isao have gone to investigate the rebellions in the civilizations. Don't worry though, Wade and Maria are here and have been checking in almost every thirty minutes" She sighed, shaking her head slightly. "Even Alakshmi is here."

 _Alakshmi's here?_ I had nearly forgotten Nadia took the young woman in. It makes sense though. Alakshmi was so dedicated to the Choten, and then to Tierra, I'm surprised she was willing to leave Nadia's side after everything that's happened.

"So, what brings you to the temple?" She cast a glance at me, probably already assuming what was going on.

Mom launched into her explanation while Nadia listened intently, her gaze never leaving my mother. "So, is there anything you think you can do?"

"I believe I might have a compromise." Her response surprised the both of us. "I'm afraid that with rebellions in four of the five civilizations, everyone is expected to be ready to help in the case of a kaiju related event. With that, I'm afraid I can't keep him from the temple when he could be needed at any time, but I'm sure I can keep him _very_ busy."

I immediately had flashbacks of her more creative punishments for running off to the water civilization without asking for help beforehand. But honestly, it was better than not being able to duel. Glancing at my mom, I could see she wasn't happy with the suggestion. It was time to try some reverse psychology. Raising my hand like I was in a class, I asked, "Can I take the grounding?"

Mom blinked in surprise, glancing at Nadia. "Creative how?"

"I believe he has become desensitized to nearly every single usual punishment this temple offers. I study the kaiju realm and ancient scrolls that need to be deciphered or repaired. I believe an effective one on him was translating an old document in Latin using only an English to Latin dictionary." She smiled, remembering the hell she placed on me. "How long did that take you?"

"Three months. Two hours on weekdays, four on weekends." I shuttered, remembering how infuriating it was to look for something in an _English_ to _Latin_ dictionary, not the other way around."

"When was this?" Mom asked, surprised by the punishment, and probably that I actually managed it.

"Almost two years ago."

"Wait, wasn't that when your grades in English jumped up?"

"It's amazing how much you can learn about a language based in Latin by studying Latin." Nadia looked to mom.

She was silent for a while, weighing her options. Finally, she turned to Nadia. "What are you thinking this time?"

"I think maybe another article translation would be effective, but if you don't agree, I'm sure I can think of something-" Nadia was cut off by Panopter flipping out.

Jumping forwards, Nadia quickly scanned the multiple screens before finding a static one. Rewinding the feed, the stalker sphere apparently was watching the entrance to the temple. Panopter started beeping again, pulling up another screen that was also static.

When she rewound the video on this one, it was once again just inside the temple. On the other one, we couldn't see the culprit who took out the camera. On this one, there was a blurry blue shape. It was long with what looked like…. two tentacles? _Oh no_.

Nadia must have been thinking the same thing, because she immediately sent the other stalker spheres to spread the alarm.

"What's wrong?" Mom asked

"There's an intruder in the temple." Nadia explained quickly, sending more to bet a better view of the unwanted visitor.

She eventually got what she was looking for.

There they were. The Choten and Tierra walking down the long stairs led by a freaking army of his goons.


	27. Chapter 27

Okay so I need some input from the, like, five of you who read this. I sat down and started to plan out the next few chapters of this story and realized that there is a TON left for me to get through. I think I can cut it down though, but it's up to you guys.

Do you want me to hurry up the story or continue the course? Either is fine by me, but I don't want the story to seem like its meandering or for you guys to get bored with it.

I need you guys to be completely honest with me about this. Honesty mean's the story's better for you guys and easier for me to make. Feel free to review/PM me with your thoughts!

-Echo

PS- I have also written chapter titles for all previous chapters. Do you want me to use them or continue just titling them 1 through whatever?

Gabe

Allie and I tore our way up the stairs to where Panopter and Master Nadia was. We had been practicing techniques with our titan rings when the alarm sounded, and my cousin ordered us to get up to the watch center immediately and offer any assistance we could. With so few of the masters available, it was all hands on deck.

Reaching the top of the long staircase, I was half surprised to find Ray and his mom watching the screens with Master Nadia.

"Ray, Mrs. Okamoto, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"Now's not the time." Janet replied, then turned to the water master. "What can we do?"

Pulling on her gauntlet, Nadia attempted to activate it, but there was no change to the black, fingerless glove. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance, but she quickly brushed it off. "We are severely outnumbered, but this doesn't appear to be another takeover attempt. He's looking for something…"

She sent several more stalker spheres to replace the ones the Choten kept picking off. With the new angles, the five of us watched as Maria and Alakshmi met the group with Dragonmare and Deinos the terrible.

"You're not welcome here!" Alakshmi hissed, ordering Deinos to engulf the group in its nightmare smoke.

"I can see," The Choten grinned, and I immediately wanted to send Switchscale after him again.

Blinking for a sec, I face palmed at not already summoning a creature. _"Switchscale Dragon! Reef Prince Glu-urgle!"_

The others who could also summoned creatures, Ray calling on Bob, Allie, Squeaky, and Janet summoned a Rumbling Terrasaur. The four of us sent our creatures to guard the entryway while we returned to the screens and watched the fight.

The two horse kaiju held up well against the five creatures the Choten's goons summoned, but well wasn't good enough. Deinos screamed in pain as a stonesaur chomped down on her leg, and Dragonmare kicked out desperately as two rapids lurkers tried to ensnare her with their tentacle arms.

"I am not having this today!" Maria shouted, and reached for her titan ring.

As she began to pull the silver chain from her throat, one of the goons pulled out what looked like a high tech shotgun, and shot her with what looked like a tranquilizer. Nadia visibly tensed as her sister stumbled, immediately effected by whatever was in the needle that was still hanging from her skin.

"Maria!" Alakshmi lunged to catch her, calling Deinos back to carry the two away while Dragonmare banished back to the creature realm due to Maria being completely knocked out by this point.

Whipping out her phone, Nadia called Alakshmi. "Alakshmi, get Maria to the lab. I shall meet you there."

"Wait, we shouldn't go anywhere!" Ray interrupted. "They might catch us. We can at least defend ourselves here."

"No, we can't." Nadia shot back, immediately silencing all arguments. "These walls won't be able to handle an attack from a stonesaur, and they could completely surround us. We can seal ourselves in the Lab, and since the waterways are connected to the bay, we can easily make an escape if need be."

Her arguments won out almost immediately. Sending Switchscale and Bob ahead, the five of us, or creatures, and Panopter carefully made our way to the library. About half way there, we ran into Chavez and Wade, who were waiting for the Choten's gang with Gillaflame and Tigershark already summoned.

"Where are you going?" Chavez asked.

"The lab. It will be safer there. They also shot Maria with something, and I want to find out what it is quickly in case someone else is hit." Nadia explained quickly. Then, she turned to Wade. "They only shot Maria when she reached for her titan ring. Be careful."

Wade was surprised by her warning, but nodded gravely. The rest of us continued on our way except for Janet, who wanted to give her creature more room to fight. Reaching the private lab at the very back, Nadia checked Panopter for Alakshmi and Maria, and was visibly upset to find that the Choten, Alakshmi and Deinos' efforts, were captured. The Choten had Alakshmi chained and dragged away while he bent over to inspect Maria's unconscious body.

He found the silver chain that kept Maria's titan ring safe and attempted to pull it away, but the chain's ability held true. The silver metal would not lift over the blonde's chin. Annoyed, the Choten attempted to cut the thin chain with some kind of plasma knife, but the small links were remarkably strong.

"Interesting. Well, if we can't take the rings off of them, we shall have to take them all." Tierra suggested.

"Or we can just decapitate them. With nothing to hold onto, the rings will be ours with ease." The Choten's response turned my stomach to stone.

"Would that work?" Allie asked, her hand immediately reaching for her throat.

"Not if they wanted the rings for their own use. Titans only respond to familiar voices. The rings are useless to them if their owner dies." Nadia gritted her teeth, trying to think of something to do.

Suddenly, she pulled her own silver chain and titan ring out of her coat pocket and threw it around Ray's neck. "Don't move. I have to warn Wade."

Despite our cries of protest, Nadia ran out of the lab. Completely and utterly defenseless now without the ring and enough mana to use her gauntlet. Without a word, Switchscale, Gargle, and I followed her out.

"Gabriel, I told you to stay put!" The water master reprimanded me as we caught up.

"What kind of a student would I be if I let my master run headfirst into danger with no protection?" I mustered up a grin.

"A good one." She tried to seem angry, but it came off more exasperated.

"But bad friend." Gargle added, already working on a tool to help fight.

By the time we made it back to Wade and the others, the Choten had already engaged the three. I sent Switchscale immediately into fight while Gargle finished his machine and Nadia ran to Wade's side.

Tigershark and Gillaflame were fast creatures, darting between the ten new creatures fighting against them with the Terrasaur putting up a pretty good defense from any aerial attacks. Switchscale happily joined the fight, running after the very first creature it saw. Tierra summoned Meteor Dragon to help end the fight, which prompted Wade to pull out his titan ring.

"Wade, don't!" Nadia called, but it was too late. The shotgun was pulled out and the tranquilizer was shot directly at my cousin.

"Wade!" I cried, rushing to his side. Nadia caught his head before he hit the ground, but that only made her an easier target. The goon took aim, and before any of us could reach them, Nadia was quickly attempting to pull the needle from her shoulder.

Tearing the barbed needle out still didn't stop its effects. Shaking her head to fight off whatever was in it, Nadia eventually fell to the ground.

"Nadia!" Master Chavez shouted in worry and fear, commanding Gillaflame to defend the two helpless bodies as he rushed for them.

Tigershark banished as his duelist crashed, and the tide shifted drastically in the fight. Seeing no other way of winning, I began to reach for my collar, but froze as the goon with the gun stared at me. I quickly retracted my hand and gave a command to Switchscale, pretending as if that was what I was doing all along, and he looked away.

"Why isn't he shooting us all?" Janet asked, joining us in defending the unconscious master and specialist.

Gargle tossed down his completed tool and used his zoom in eyes to examine the gun. "Target acquired. Long range tranquilizer- optimized for small targets. Shot number before reload, four. Estimated reload time, 60 seconds."

"He doesn't want to waste ammo." Chavez simplified. "He doesn't have a gauntlet, so he'd be an easy target."

"Who doesn't want to be an easy target?" Turning, I saw Ray and Allie charge towards us, dismounting Bob and Squeaky as the creatures passed and jumped into the fray.

"That one- woah!" I pressed a button on the handle shaped tool, and a ray shield formed in front of us.

It was only a second too late though. Right as it activated, a tranquilizer filled needed passed by my arm just as it activated, catching Allie just below her left shoulder.

"Allie!" Ray caught her as she fell, and gently laid her down on the ground. Squeaky was banished instantly, and we were once again getting overwhelmed.

But this was our chance. Without a second thought, I tossed the shield at Janet and gave Switchscale a tactical order. The dragon was fast, but he needed to be faster. We barely had a minute to pull this off.

Pushing my will onto the dragon, I watched as the fire creature changed. Switchscale's red and gold scales flipped inside out, revealing a sleep, silver blue. The same happened to his horns and claws, turning a sterile white, and it's golden eyes changed to a glowing blue. His body, even more streamlined than before, shot past the Choten and his other goons and loomed threateningly over the gun wielder.

One strike was all it took to knock the guy out, and one bite completely cut the weapon in two. Seeing another opening, I tore out my titan ring and called, " _Beowolf, the Hunter!_ "

The winged white wolf erupted from the golden band and asked no questions. Baring his long fangs, Beowolf launched himself at Meteor dragon, and locked himself into a dangerous battle.

The tide was turning, so the Choten summoned Trox and Squillace Scourge. The large darkness creature and hybrid ganged up on Beowolf, but the titan was much smaller and faster. Things seemed to be going our way. We were going to win.

Then, completely out of the blue, Trox got a lucky hit. Gillaflame was banished immediately and when Switchscale jumped in to pick up the slack against the three giants, my two fighting creatures left Bob and the Terrasaur alone against eight other creatures. Janet's creature went first, banishing after valiantly charging at and trampling two smaller creatures. Gargle's shield defended us from direct attacks, but the fight had cost all of us a lot of mana. A decision had to be made.

There was no way we would be getting Maria and Alakshmi back at this point, since we had no clue where either were, and while we had more than three people, if Chavez carried Nadia and Ray or I grabbed Allie, the other two, no matter whoever they were, wouldn't be able to save Wade.

And I refuse to leave my cousin.

 **Ray**

Once the fight turned, it just began to go downhill. Beowolf somehow managed to banish Trox by refracting and hyperfocusing light off his wings and directing it at the darkness creature, but the other two large kaiju were a bit sturdier against pure light attacks than the pure darkness creature, but Squillace Scourge finally ensnared Switchscale and banished the dragon by trying to tear him apart.

Bob quickly followed as all remaining smaller creatures ganged up and swarmed him, forcing my partner to the ground and trying to tear him apart before banishing him. Seeing that he was now alone, Beowolf retreated, placing himself between the Choten and us.

"Surrender the ring holders," The Choten gave a smug smile and arrogantly placed an arm around Tierra in a small show of victory.

Beowolf answered with a menacing snarl, spreading his wings out threateningly. The choten responded by pulling a small high tec hand pistol and shooting at the titan twice. The same needle like vials disappeared in the titan's fur.

Sensing that something was wrong, the hybrid lunged forwards in a final attempt to banish as many creatures as possible. Surprised by the attack, Meteor dragon was unable to defend his throat in time before the titan's teeth sank deep into the tough scales.

" _Their fangs are the strongest of any organic material I have ever come across"_ Rubyeye had told me in reference to spirit wolves, which was half of the light/nature creature's lineage.

The dragon banished quickly in a howl of pain, but when Beowolf turned to fight some more, he stumbled. Viciously, the winged wolf shook his head, trying to fight off whatever was injected into him. As the other, smaller creatures were sent in to finish the job, Beowolf managed to catch a few by surprise, sending several back to the creature realm.

His efforts were appreciated, but all in vain. Once the great creature collapsed, no longer able to hold himself up due to the serum, the battle was over, and there was nowhere to run.

We were quickly surrounded by the other creatures and forced away from the unconscious bodies of our friends. As the Choten inspected them for their rings, a flash of annoyance was seen on his face when he was unable to locate Nadia's silver chain. Maria's limp body was laid next to her sisters and a chained Alakshmi was returned to us, shouting and spitting profanities and threats to the Choten as he continued to search the water master's pockets for the missing ring.

Around my neck, the chain burned at my skin. Such a powerful weapon was within reach, but I didn't have the ability to use it at all.

 _King…._

A word echoed in my head. The voice was hardly a voice at all, just the sensation of a word that sent shivers down my body.

 _Night…mare…_

The next two words made even less sense than the first. My body unconsciously flinched, and my hand shot up to my collar. The burning sensation wasn't frustration at not being able to use the golden band, but the ring actually burning my chest.

Fumbling with the object, I turned away from the Choten as he obliviously ordered someone to search the lab for it while the other wielders were loaded on the backs of an evolved terrasaur to be transported most likely across the veil.

When my hand grasped the ring and pulled it away, I was surprised to feel the silver chain break and reform again, no longer locked around the golden band.

My heart beat hard at the idea. Gabe turned when he heard my gasp. "Ray, your eyes… The blue markings are back!"

Mom and Chavez turned to look at me, and were surprised as well. Opening my hand flat, they were even more startled to see the ring, chainless.

"How did you," Master Chavez trailed off in shock.

 _Nightmare…_

The words suddenly clicked. Stepping forwards, I mimicked the motions Wade, Maria, Allie, and Gabe performed when summoning their titans.

Winding up, I threw the ring as hard as I could at the ground in front of me, allowing my index finger to put some extra spin on it as the golden band left my grasp.

"No!" The fire master's cry startled me, but it was far too late to turn back.

" _Nightmare King!_ " The ring took off.

It expanded to a little over twice my height, and heralding its creator, a pitch black smog covered all view of the breach in the ring. Only a pair of glowing white eyes could be seen as the creature crossed the veil.


End file.
